Student Loans for Bartending and Casino Schools?
July 20th, 2006An article in Bloomberg entitled, “Kindergarten to Grad School Loans Boost Bond Market”, covers the increased activity in the bond market due to the increase in both federal and private student loans being taken out.
The interesting part was the mention of modern trade schools and how some lenders are catering to this market:
Students enrolling at The National Schools in La Mesa, California, can finance classes in bartending and casino dealing through Sallie Mae. The bartending program costs $500 while a two-month course to learn how to deal poker, including Texas Hold-Em and 7 Card Stud, costs $895.
The Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in Fairfield, Iowa, advises its students that they can take out a loan with Citigroup. It costs $2,500 to study transcendental meditation and loans can be repaid over as long as 10 years at an interest rate of prime plus 1.50 percent. The prime rate is currently 8.25 percent.
The tuitions mentioned for the bartending and casino schools are small enough where many students can afford to take out a small personal loan or line of credit.
Ideally we should have accreditation agencies that approve alternative and trade schools for government student loan status. Many community colleges are accredited and have these alternative classes, but there are not enough of them to fulfill the demand. Online bartending schools do offer a solution, but lack the important hands-on experience.
There doesn’t seem to be a big push by lawmakers to include some smaller trade schools in federal education funding, so look for an increase in the private banking sector to market their financial services to match the growing demand.
