The problem of rising college tuition and massive student debt affects all of us -- even if we're not in school or don't have college-age kids. College graduates burdened by loan payments are forced to take the highest-paying job, no matter what. Many budding artists, activists, entrepreneurs, inventors, teachers, clergy, and spirited non-conformists are shuttled off to a cubicle somewhere before ever testing out their ambitions. The next Rachel Carson or Spike Lee may never be heard from. There must be a better way to finance higher education. And there is, if you look at Europe's example or America's work colleges -- described in sidebars here. -- The Editors

For many ambitious Americans from modest backgrounds, college debt has helped transform their 20s and early 30s from an age in which to explore the world, establish themselves, or pursue idealistic or artistic goals into a time of oddly limited career options and scaled-down dreams. "It colors every little decision you make," says 26-year-old Gabriel Schnitzler, who graduated from Yale Law School in 2001 with $106,000 in loans and now works for a small corporate firm.

Undergraduate college debt is rising rapidly. A decade after loan-based student aid surpassed grant-based aid as the major source of college funding, graduates of four-year colleges who entered the labor force in 2002 owed an average of $18,900, according to the Nellie Mae Corporation, a leading provider of student loans. That's a 66 percent increase since 1997.

Whereas college graduates once started their adult financial lives with an eye to the future, today's graduates emerge from college just hoping to stay above water financially. A 1998 Nellie Mae study found that a quarter of private-college grads and about 40 percent of newly graduated doctors and lawyers had student loan obligations that exceeded their current salaries. Low-income and African American grads surveyed in 2002 reported feeling particularly burdened by their debts.

Students who majored in the arts, music, and the humanities tended to have especially burdensome ratios of debt to earnings. Indeed, careers in publishing and the arts have been marked by a steady drift toward extremely low-paying, short-term positions in lieu of true entry-level jobs. Internships, one-year fellowships, and trainee slots have exploded as a means for organizations to capture hardworking novices without having to pay them a formal wage or contribute to retirement programs. Though these programs provide young adults with valuable experience, they often delay for years their entry into positions that pay truly adult wages.