As I’ve reported on the twin housing and unemployment crises in black
neighborhoods in recent years, I’ve heard the same refrain from
struggling strivers up and down the educational ladder: “I’m getting my
papers, maybe that’ll help.” GEDs, associates degrees, trade licenses,
certifications, you name it, we’re getting it. Hell, I even went and got
certified in selling wine; journalism’s a shrinking trade, after all.
But this headlong rush of black Americans to get schooled has also led
too many down a depressingly familiar path. As with the mortgage market
of the pre-crash era, those who are just entering in the higher ed game
have found themselves ripe for the con man’s picking. They’ve landed,
disproportionately, at for-profit schools, rather than at far less
expensive public community colleges, or at public universities. And that
means they’ve found themselves loaded with unimaginable debt, with
little to show for it, while a small group of financial players have
made a great deal of easy money. Sound familiar? Two points if you hear
troublesome echoes of the subprime mortgage crisis. [Read more]
