I couldn't agree more! Another unintended consequence is that people who previously wouldn't have been able to get loans at all due to default risk can get money. But they don't have the credentials to get into a fancy school. This means there is a lot of excess demand and it makes it possible for these for-profit schools to even exist (they probably wouldn't otherwise).
Since the job market doesn't necessarily need double the number of college grads it means that competition for the jobs that do need filling is fiercer. And that means that people who need to pay back loans for school don't necessarily have the ability to. A race to the bottom in terms of accepting a lower paying job ensues, and people are left with very little agency.
Sometimes it seems like the better-intentioned a social justice law is the worse it'll end up being years down the road.
Despite widespread knowledge of grade inflation and diploma devaluation, somehow a college degree is still used in discussions of employability.
If it's easy to graduate once you've been admitted, increasing the number of graduates isn't going to help alleviate the "shortage of college graduates" because the real shortage is in talent.
Since the job market doesn't necessarily need double the number of college grads it means that competition for the jobs that do need filling is fiercer. And that means that people who need to pay back loans for school don't necessarily have the ability to. A race to the bottom in terms of accepting a lower paying job ensues, and people are left with very little agency.
Sometimes it seems like the better-intentioned a social justice law is the worse it'll end up being years down the road.