A new piece by Andrew P. Kelly at The Hill suggests students need better information before making a decision that might saddle them with so much debt.

Students need better information

On May 1, millions of Americans made the second-largest investment decision of their lives: they chose a college. After years of late-night homework, weekends spent in test prep and complex application forms, these prospective students get to punch what we’ve told them is a sure-fire ticket to the middle class.

For many, it will be. College graduates still enjoy sizable advantages in the labor market. A recent Georgetown study found that workers with a bachelor’s degree gained 2.2 million jobs during the recession and recovery, while those with a high-school diploma or less lost 5.8 million.

For others, though, this decision will lead to a crippling mixture of student loan debt and labor market uncertainty. First off, just half of the students who start a degree or certificate finish one within six years. And even those who graduate face mounting costs and stagnant returns. According to the College Board, tuition and fees at public, four-year colleges grew 66 percent over the past decade, more quickly than in either of the prior two decades. Pell Grants and tuition discounts help to defray these sticker prices for many students, though they have been hard-pressed to keep up with tuition increases.

To close the gap, students and families have taken on $1 trillion in student loans, with the median borrower owing nearly $14,000. But while college degrees cost much more than they used to, they seem to be delivering less: data from the Current Population Survey show that the inflation-adjusted wages of recent college graduates actually declined between 2000 and 2011.