A Magical Education Didn’t Bankrupt Hogwarts Students — A College Education Shouldn’t Bankrupt Us

By Chelsea Coatney, Generation Progress Digital Director and Hannah Finnie, Generation Progress Senior Policy & Communications Associate

This piece is a part of our Wizard Rock the Vote series, exploring some of the issues on the ballot and the systemic problems that keep people from going to the polls. To find out more about how to get involved and support WRTV, visit wizardrockthevote.com.

It’s every Harry Potter fan’s dream to attend Hogwarts. When daydreaming about getting your acceptance letter, though, you’re most likely not thinking about the costs associated with being a Hogwarts student. But according to one journalist’s estimate using prices found on Pottermore, Hogwarts tuition comes to about $43,000 per year, with an additional $1,000 for books, clothes, and school supplies (like cauldrons and telescopes).

Of course, J.K. Rowling has said that the Ministry of Magic covers all costs of magical education in Great Britain, but many college students in the United States are not so lucky (and no word on tuition at America’s Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry yet). The average price tag for tuition, fees, and room and board at U.S. private, nonprofit, four-year colleges and universities for the 2015–2016 school year is $43,921 (attending a public school in your home state cuts the bill to $19,548) and with over $1.3 trillion total in outstanding educational debt, affecting more than 40 million people in America, student debt is officially a crisis.

Despite these ballooning costs and inaction by institutions and government alike, the student debt crisis CAN be solved. Debt-free college is not a new idea — a generation ago, students were able to cover their tuition with a part-time or summer job. Today, after decades of cuts to state and local higher education budgets resulting in increases in tuition and fees, plus stagnant wages and family incomes, a part-time bartending gig at The Leaky Cauldron will no longer pay the bills.

As the largest and most diverse generation in American history, the student debt crisis is hitting Millennials the hardest. We came of age in the wake of one of the worst economic crises since the Great Depression, watching wages shrink and unemployment rates rise. We were told a college degree was the sure ticket to prosperity, but poor job prospects and soaring student debt payments ended up holding many of us back — and what’s worse, the stress of student debt is not felt equally.

Women are more burdened than men by their student loans, due to the gender wage gap. Women make 82 cents for every dollar a man makes, leaving them with less money to pay back their student loans. Student debt also disproportionately burdens people of color. Zip codes with high African American and Latino populations suffer disproportionately high student loan delinquency rates. Among minority populations, middle-income families are the ones who default the most on student loans, demonstrating the presence of structural racism in higher education and credit and labor markets. Additionally, LGBTQ Americans face increased barriers to financial security, making unwieldy student loan payments all the more unmanageable in the face of higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and workplace and housing discrimination.

The good news is that there are solutions on the table — we just need lawmakers willing to listen to students and borrowers, take their concerns seriously, and enact solutions that work for everyone affected.

When heading to the polls this November, vote for higher education and against student debt. We need representatives who will fight for America’s 40 million student loan borrowers by allowing the refinancing of loans, strengthening consumer protections, and simplifying repayment options. We need state legislators who will restore full public funding to higher education and give every American the opportunity to attend college debt-free.

No matter what level of government, there are things our current and future leaders can do to help student loan borrowers and ensure higher education remains a public good for future generations. Higher education is on the ballot — let’s make sure we elect leaders willing to take up the fight. Let lawmakers know that education is not a game. Getting an affordable college education shouldn’t — and doesn’t have to be — as hard as catching the Golden Snitch.

About the Authors:

Generation Progress educates, engages, and mobilizes a new generation of young progressives to make change around campus sexual assault, climate change, immigration, LGBTQ equality, and more. Generation Progress is a project of the Center for American Progress. Join the movement and learn more at genprogress.org and americanprogress.org.