With nearly $1.6 trillion in outstanding student loan debt, one would think that colleges would be doing everything they could to try and alleviate the cost of higher education for students. But that's not always the case, at the University of Minnesota they use students and taxpayers as piggy banks to fund credits for seniors.
The state of Minnesota offers subsidized credit hours for $10 to senior citizens. This compares to the $15,104 in tuition alone that the regular applicants to UoM would have to pay. Then there is the estimated extra $13,572 that Freshmen, or anyone who would live on campus, would have to cover. When looking at the cost for an in-state student during the college years of baby boomers, they paid on average under $5000 for tuition and faced far lower living costs.
In Minnesota, this is actually a state law that state-funded universities must do this as part of the state’s Senior Citizen Education Program.
According to the Project For Student Debt, UoM Twin City graduates, on average, leave the school with $26,586 of debt.
In fact, when looking at all 50 states plus Washington D.C., students and/or taxpayers offer these programs in all 50 states for little to no cost to those 60 and above. With some states giving seniors a path to a full degree for free. All while the endowment of these colleges continues to increase as well.