In the state of Oklahoma there is an expected 80.6% of population seeking to gain education above high school level. This education comes in the form of many different programs and fields of study. To get through all this education many students need financial support that they do not have. Obtaining such funds in our society and the determining the competitive forces that interact with such have a cause for concern. Competitive forces are meant to cause a driving force to improve industry, but it can also destroy the future dreams of us all.

The debate comes from the many years we have attempted to develop and maintain a financial system to support education of students. College cost, and some students simply can not pay the demands of such. Accordingly society developed programs to help with this, scholarships, grants, and other financial assistance is meant to provide the primary sources of such. But more and more students are using students loans each year, and the system is have an over abundance of defaults on such loans. But this does not seem to affect those providing funds, only allowing them more cash flow each year. The question then is whether this financing industry has been controlled or if it is instead acting on its own to put pressure on students to pay what they should not have to?

Not only is this coming from the financing companies that provide student loans but also from the colleges themselves. Many colleges have developed around a for-profit status and are determined to gain in funds more each year. This means they are every increasing the cost to students who use their services. Many such students are not experienced in such loans nor do they have many options to develop resources for other financing. This dilemma then leaves them with little choice but to accept such loans and hope that in the future there will be the means to pay them off. The conditions of this financial system have changed over time, presenting little proof that there is any oversight or control for those who are forced to use it.

And yes forced is the word to use, for when colleges are associated with the same financial groups that provide these loans, there is a direct relationship between those providing education and the financing of such. Questionable then is the motivation behind providing these loans, or even if there are other means allowed by these colleges to establish other financial systems to pay for education. The concept competitive marketing is meant to explain the driving forces that every industry has. The expectation is that those in this industry will develop lower cost and better services to present to the consumers. This increase competition among the industry and provides for more consumers to use these products. But in the case of student loans there seems to be little competitive resources directed to lowering cost, and therefore to providing better services to the students.

If this industry was to provide for more students it would have to follow the demand-supply curve concept that explains how the cost of a product relates to the amount of consumers that are available to buy. The reasoning for creating this student loan industry was to provide for the mass numbers of students that needed financing for education. But if the price of that financing is constantly on the rise, the demand-supply curve relates that there will be fewer students able to accept such. This does not provide then for those who need education, or to those colleges looking to gain higher enrollments.

Once again the system meant to help others has been turned to providing for only a few, those who are within the system themselves taking advantage of those who are not aware of or have the means to stop them. Governmental regulators and agencies are supposed to take actions to prevent such, but they too have been hit with economic cut backs. Congressial actions have token a toll on what these agencies can do, and even what they can look into. The politics of money to control the organizations developed is well know, and it is only a matter of time that such happens.

It is expect that governmental agencies will regulate and control these actions. But when there is a large sum of profit to gain, regulations of any industry needs to be clear. In this case such regulations and the intentions of those enforcing them, are in question. The student loans have been repacked so many times that many are comparing such to the recent cause of the mortgage decline that set our economy downward. With higher cost for education each year, and the lack of those in the financial system to provide for students care, will we have another decline in the economy as this financial system fails as well? Some are stating that the rate of default is 30-40% already, and that this information has been hidden from public view. Do you know of any colleges or financial institutions that are current recording their own default rates? And would a high default rate of students mean that they are not servicing the needs of their consumers?