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Why on earth is this still happening? Here we are, in throes of a long overdue reckoning about the generation-ravaging scourge of student debt. Here we are, trying to figure a way out of a $1.7 trillion dollar mess that was already kneecapping the financial and professional ambitions, personal lives and mental health status of millions of former students. Here we are, with debt forgiveness a front and center issue for the Biden administration. And yet, here we are, with an entire population of current and prospective students are now going back to school and facing the same crushing, predatory situation.

Despite an ongoing pandemic that has made higher ed a still often virtual experience for many of us, tuition costs are rising. Meanwhile, a recent NerdWallet analysis from the National Center for Education Statistics reports that this year’s incoming students are taking out more loans than ever. While I can’t personally shake every parent and every member of the class of 2022 by the shoulders here, I will simply plead for you to turn back before it’s too late. We aging GenXers and our kids deserve a better future than this.

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“Apply online for your undergraduate loan now. It’s fast and easy,” promises one well-known lender on its site. “Fill out some basic information and find out how much you qualify to borrow in just minutes.” Sure, that’s just what you do, right? What’s the worst that could happen?

As financial advisor Chris Kampitsis noted to Forbes earlier this year, “Short of winning the lottery, there is often no feasible alternative for students with limited means to pay for college.” fast auto and payday loans Burlington WA These are your options, learners: Powerball or crippling debt. And for what, exactly? When we have all observed pretty clearly over the past year that you can get the same lecture you’d hear in those ivy-covered halls just fine while sitting in your bedroom on Zoom?

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“I’ll give the unpopular advice,” says Corey Noyes, founder of Balanced Capital Investments. “There is very little data to support that college choice has any impact on future income. Going to your dream school because of its prestige is likely a waste of money, at least as future income is concerned.” The evidence is indeed contradictory at best. CNBC reports that according to the State of Working America Data Library, “College degree earners make about 49.5% more than someone with only a high school diploma,” but, “This figure hasn’t grown much in recent years, even though student borrowers (and their families) are taking on 116% more in student loan debt than they were a ong roughly the 2 out of 5 college students who will not graduate, you get to be in that vast population of American workers without a degree, but all the student debt of someone who does have one.

So if you’re thinking about college now, gaze past freshman convocation and into the future. According to a 2021 Harris Poll of adults aged 33 to 40, 68% of those who took out student loans are still paying them off, and 52% say their loans weren’t worth it. Debt, they say, has impacted their ability to buy a home, save for the future and make the geographic and career choices they wanted.

There are plenty of other paths. Particularly now, at this very strange and uncertain moment, it is the responsible thing to do to look into them. This week, a friend’s daughter is touring community colleges, inspired by the example of her older cousin, who is studying online in her second year of community college. A neighbors’s kid is currently living at home and going to a city college to save money. Another’s has decided to take a year off, and at least one of my daughter’s classmates is going into the military. They all may end their academic careers in different places, but for now, they’re being smart and cautious. They are a select group, for sure, but they and their families are looking at the big picture and e traps their predecessors are still digging out from.