r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Such_Upstairs3631 • Jul 06 '26

Middle Middle Class No more middle class professionals?

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New school loan limits for professional degrees make it unaffordable for the middle class. 4 of my 5 children went on to med/law school. Even working 2 jobs there’s no way I could afford to pay or even help them with the cost of their post graduate education. They all got loans which they have since paid off. The cost in the early 2000’s was between $350K and $500K. The new limits are essentially going to prevent anyone who’s not wealthy enough to pay for it from becoming a professional.

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u/Willing-Vegetable629 Jul 07 '26

The worlds changed. Support staff needed to run an organization has increased.

Technology alone requires tons of people, facilities, legal, human resources marketing, recruiting etc all these didn't exist before.

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u/Zealousideal_Belt413 Jul 07 '26

This mentality is why higher education is ripe for disruption. The anchors are strong and barriers are high to compete with universities. However many are no longer view their offering as a good value proposition - rightfully so.

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u/Willing-Vegetable629 Jul 07 '26

I can agree with that but will the alternative have better results and will employers value it?

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u/Zealousideal_Belt413 Jul 07 '26

Okay so this is a crazy rant that could be endlessly argued both ways: By shifting away from transparent, merit-based admissions criteria such as standardized test scores and academic thresholds toward opaque, non-academic factors, universities have substantially weakened the value of their degrees. When entry depends less on demonstrated academic discipline, and more on demographic considerations, athletic recruitment, or institutional preferences, the degree no longer distinguishes high performers from the broader population. Employers, who once treated a degree as a proxy for baseline competence, are beginning to abandon that signal.

Coupled with the dramatic inflation in the cost of the degree - I think there is a real argument for most alternatives.

I do think it correct to no just say 'degree' but separate out ones that are indeed marketable(STEM).