June 14, 2006 9:08AM # Tipping Credulity on Student Aid By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) --- SHARE Yesterday, *USA Today* ran [a front page article](http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2006-06-11-debt-cover-usat_x.htm) on the arrival of six-figure student debt, highlighting especially the $116,000 in debt accumulated by a Rutgers University master’s student. Now, the article didn’t say whether the scholar in question was an in-state student or had been a Rutgers undergraduate, but if both were applicable his would be a Guinness-worthy borrowing feat, especially since the article said that Rutgers paid the young man’s tuition for his final year of grad school. Let’s go to the numbers: In the 2005-06 academic year, the cost of tuition, fees, room and board for an in-state undergraduate at Rutgers [was $17,800](http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050715/NEWS/507150410/1059). If the student had paid that for four years—which he obviously didn’t since he must have graduated before 2005–06—his entire undergraduate education would only have cost $71,200. [As a graduate student](http://www.studentabc.rutgers.edu/tuition/05-06TBill-NBGrad.pdf), if we assume he lived in university housing and had the biggest possible meal plan, he would have paid about $20,000 a year. The grand total for both his undergraduate and graduate education, then, would have come to approximately $111,200—$4,800 *less* than his total accumulated debt! Oh yeah, and Rutgers paid the young man’s tuition in his final year—about $10,000—so he actually owes $14,800 more *than the entire cost of his education*. Amazing! Asserting that students have no option but to go into six-figure hock to attend college is, of course, ridiculous. But, predictably, that hasn’t stopped student advocates and interest groups from celebrating *USA Today*’s story. Indeed, Anya Kamenetz, author of *Generation Debt*, even [dubbed the article a “tipping point”](http://anyakamenetz.blogspot.com/) in the battle to convince America that its students are impoverished and need more taxpayer-funded student aid. Sadly, when it comes to her assessment of the article, Kamenetz might be right. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).