We Should Be Advising Young People Not to Take Out Loans They Can’t Afford

This article is useless - there are no numbers, no proof, that college is affordable. Just the author trying to rationalize her decade old decision of not going to Columbia. (She rattles on about how hard she worked, implying if kids just worked harder they'd have success)

As of 2015 you earn 50% more with a college degree than without. That means a college degree easily pays for itself.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/01/12/pay-gap-betw...

The article you linked said that 50% was the average difference. What is the median difference? Without that data you can't really tell, if a degree pays for itself.

What's wrong with making the federal government create a national testing system that allows millions of individuals to self-study in their own free time and prove that they received knowledge without forcing those individuals to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition fees?

The federal government doesn't have the capability to do that, and it never will. If it were to try to do this, it would do what it is told to do by some lobbyists or special interests.

Should we advise young people to take out loans they cannot afford?