College Rules! But Student Loans are a Hot Mess!
Optimist Economy
Kathryn Anne Edwards and Robin Rauzi
4.9 • 829 Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The U.S. government makes student loans because our economy benefits enormously: Improved human capital. Higher earnings for taxpayers. Innovation and productivity gains. (Side note: Education has also been a $50 billion per year “export” because so many international students come here.) Meanwhile, colleges are basically getting blank checks for whatever tuition prices they pull out of the air. So there’s all this upside for the government and cash flowing to colleges, but student borrowers are left holding the bag. Kathryn Edwards thinks we can do better, and in a way that preserves what makes the American college experience great for students and the country.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Andy says that it's dropped. |
| 0:02.5 | Episodes get dropped. |
| 0:03.8 | Oh, episodes are dropped. |
| 0:05.7 | Episodes are dropped. |
| 0:07.2 | God, I thought that was just like... |
| 0:08.3 | I think that... |
| 0:08.7 | I think that sounds like podcast jargon. |
| 0:11.5 | I thought that that's something that only musicians did with singles. |
| 0:15.4 | With, with mics? |
| 0:16.7 | No, okay. |
| 0:17.3 | Oh, yeah, that too. |
| 0:18.8 | No. |
| 0:19.5 | God, we're criminally nerdy, Robin. |
| 0:28.6 | Hello and welcome to optimist economy. |
| 0:30.7 | I'm Catherine. |
| 0:31.8 | I'm Robin. |
| 0:32.9 | On this show, we believe the U.S. economy can be better, |
| 0:35.4 | and we talk about how to get there one problem and solution at a time. |
| 0:44.8 | Hey, at the top of the show, I think it would be great for us to thank the people who have made contributions to our show through Buy Me a Coffee or by becoming a paid substack member and getting our newsletter. |
| 0:57.0 | It's really been great and encouraging, and we're so glad to have your support. |
| 1:01.5 | Absolutely buoyed by it. And also need to thank the people who have written reviews for us |
| 1:07.0 | wherever they get their podcast. And I need to shout out one person in particular who wrote a truly |
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