THE REAL STUDENT LOAN CRISIS
Reason magazine|March 2024
MISLED BY A BAD LAW, GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE DROWNING IN DEBT.
EMMA CAMP
THE REAL STUDENT LOAN CRISIS

MORE THAN ANYTHING, Heather Lowe didn't want her children to grow up in poverty.

The 27-year-old had already had more interactions with social services than most ever will. As a child, she had been in and out of foster care and witnessed her parents' struggle with drug addiction. She had her first child at 19. She soon found herself bouncing between homeless shelters with her infant son. She even did a stint at a domestic violence shelter.

“I needed to do better for my kids. I needed to do better even for myself,” she says. “A lot of people were very much like, ‘All you’ll ever be is a single parent. And you’ll be an uneducated person for the rest of your life.’”

When her son was 2 years old, she went back to school, finishing several associate degrees and then completing a bachelor’s in psychology from California Lutheran University. But even then she struggled to find work that paid enough.

“I got offered $15 an hour with a bachelor’s and four associates,” Lowe says. “So I was like, ‘Well, I have to get my master’s, and I’ll be a therapist.’”

Lowe soon settled on entering a Master of Social Work (MSW) program. She scoured the internet for MSW programs, best MSW programs, affordable MSW programs. One school kept popping up: USC.

The University of Southern California’s Suzanne DworakPeck School of Social Work is the largest social work school in the world. In 2016, university officials estimated that as many as 1 in 20 graduate-level social workers in the nation were educated there.

Soon Lowe found herself on the phone with a USC representative, who she says aggressively sold her on the school’s MSW program.

Esta historia es de la edición March 2024 de Reason magazine.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición March 2024 de Reason magazine.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE REASON MAGAZINEVer todo
THE REAL THREAT IS AN ISOLATED CHINA
Reason magazine

THE REAL THREAT IS AN ISOLATED CHINA

DECOUPLING FROM TRADE WILL MAKE THE U.S. POORER AND CHINA MORE TOTALITARIAN.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
February 2025
Against Our Own Best Souls'
Reason magazine

Against Our Own Best Souls'

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN ON HERLIFE ASA WITNESS ON DEATH ROW

time-read
10+ minutos  |
February 2025
'THE POLITICS HAVE COME TO US'
Reason magazine

'THE POLITICS HAVE COME TO US'

HOW A CHRISTIAN CHARITY IN EL PASO ENDED UP AT WAR WITH THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT FOR HELPING UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS

time-read
10+ minutos  |
February 2025
MATERIEL LOSS
Reason magazine

MATERIEL LOSS

HOW THE U.S. MILITARY BUSTS ITS BUDGET ON WASTEFUL, CARELESS, AND UNNECESSARY 'SELF-LICKING ICE CREAM CONES'

time-read
10+ minutos  |
February 2025
'NOT A SUICIDE PACT'
Reason magazine

'NOT A SUICIDE PACT'

HOW A 1949 SUPREME COURT DISSENT GAVE BIRTH TO A MEME THAT SUBVERTS FREE SPEECH AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

time-read
10+ minutos  |
February 2025
HOW MUSK CAN HELP TRUMP CUT TRILLIONS
Reason magazine

HOW MUSK CAN HELP TRUMP CUT TRILLIONS

DURING PRESIDENT DONALD Trump’s first term in office, the national debt increased by $8 trillion—due, in large part, to huge spending hikes that Congress passed and Trump signed.

time-read
5 minutos  |
February 2025
THE IMPROBABLE RISE OF MAGA-MUSK
Reason magazine

THE IMPROBABLE RISE OF MAGA-MUSK

IS ELON MUSK A REACTIONARY WITHA DEFECTIVE BULLSHIT METER OR THE BEST PART OF THE SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION?

time-read
10+ minutos  |
February 2025
A Free-Range Family
Reason magazine

A Free-Range Family

RIGHT NOW, CHILDHOOD is intensely meh. Maybe you read the recent report in The Journal of Pediatrics that said that as kids' independence and free play have gone down, their anxiety and depression have been going up.

time-read
3 minutos  |
February 2025
Educulture Wars
Reason magazine

Educulture Wars

THE CULTURE WAR is costing school districts billions, according to a report released in October 2024 by the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access. The report surveyed superintendents at 467 school districts nationwide about extra expenditures they undertook because of increased conflict over culture war issues such as critical race theory, book chal- lenges, gender-related debates, and other politicized topics. The report estimates that such fights cost school districts around $3.2 billion during the 2023-2024 school year.

time-read
1 min  |
February 2025
Q&A Penny Lane
Reason magazine

Q&A Penny Lane

PENNY LANE'S NEW Netflix documentary, Confessions of a Good Samaritan, delves into her life-changing decision to donate a kidney to a stranger. Known for her thoughtful and provocative storytelling, Lane has explored human connection and empathy in films such as Hail Satan? and The Pain of Others. Last October she spoke with Reason's Nick Gillespie and shared her emotional, physical, and philosophical experience with anonymous kidney donation and the challenges that came with it.

time-read
2 minutos  |
February 2025