"What if I don't like the education or I can't find a job when I graduate? What happens with my loans? I don't feel as though they are my responsibility."
Well, the Dept of Ed's rules on this are very specific. The Master Promissory Note for your loans, your information that you receive when a loan disbursement is made, on your borrower rights and responsibilities, and in the entrance and exit counseling, it clearly states that you understand that you are still under obligation to repay your loans even if you are unsatisfied with the education you received or if you can't find a job.
These loans are federal student loans, meaning they come from the federal government. If you borrow from the government, then they will want their money back. They aren't concerned with your feelings or your outcome: they just want their money back. Since you filled out the loan, it is you that is responsible for it. Think of getting a Big Mac, eating it, then being unsatisfied with it. Will McDonald's not charge you? No, because then everyone would be unsatisfied with it, and no one would pay anything. That's just one of many examples.
Unfortunately way to many students utilize student loans for degrees that will have very little impact on their future earnings.
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That's quite a large debate that has many sides to it, Mike. I acquired a major and a minor that has nothing to do with my current occupation, and I still ended up with debt that I'm still paying off years later. But I found it useful to me as a person, even though it had nothing to do with my job skills. I've met a lot of people who assume that just because they have a degree means they will get a job, but nowadays when there are more degrees issued than any other time in our history, that just isn't so. There are some who feel that they should work at what they love, but if you love philosophy, it's a bit difficult to get a job in that. Others say people should get jobs in what they know is a growing industry, even though they hate it. Are either right or wrong? Who's to say. But I think historically, there has been a major shift from attending university as being a method of growing as a person into attending university to get a job. In either case, I think the argument is a valid one that needs to be in the broader minds of the public, but at the same time, people need to get out of "if A then B" mentality and be more realistic: "if A, then a greater probability of B, but possibly C or D as well".
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