School vice president Dolan Evanovich says the scholarships and grants will help diversify and retain students as the cost of a college education keeps rising.

A recent study says the cost of a college education has outpaced inflation for decades and more students are paying those costs with borrowed money. In the U.S., total student loan debt now tops $1 trillion and the average student debt is $25,000

Ohio University sociologist Deborah Thorne describes herself as pessimistic about student loan debt.

“So many people now are burdened with student loan debt that they cannot escape, period. They cannot get out from under this,” Thorne said.

Federal government figures indicate more than 65 percent of college students who graduate with a Bachelor’s degree have some loan debt. Average student loan debt recently topped $25,000. But, Thorne says more college students are much deeper in hock. She adds most students are not being advised about the long-term consequences of taking out large loans.

“Think of the mood you would be in if you were the student who was graduating with $80,000 in student loan debt. I know that’s not the average. But, I frequently talk with students who are borrowing $20,000 per year,” Thorne said. They’re getting through school on loans and they’re graduating with $80,000 in student loan debt.”

To pay off a student loan of $80,000 in 10 years with a fixed rate of 6.8 percent, the graduate would have to pay $920 per month. A $25,000 loan can be repaid with the same interest rate with a payment of $288 per month for 10 years.

At Wiiliam and Mary College in Virginia, economist David Feldman also researches student loan debt and its economic and personal effects.

“We are in a world in which the distribution of income in the United State has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. We are less the middle class society that we once were,” Feldman said.

Feldman adds that as the middle class shrinks, and federal and state governments reduce their financial support of higher education, families with college age children are bearing an increased share of the cost. In 1975, Feldman says families paid about a third of the cost of college while now families pay about half of all tuition, room and board.

“So that’s a sea change, that’s a big change that families are now shouldering a much greater fraction of the bill,” Feldman said.

Still, Feldman argues that a college education is well worth the higher cost.

“Its like you’re investing in a lifetime of earnings differential that is, at a minimum, on average, $500,000 or more of extra earnings because you have a college degree,” Feldman said.

But, Thorne is less sure

“Staying in this holding pattern of giving more loans, more loans, more loans to students is dysfunctional. Its really short-sighted,” Thorne said.

The most recent figures show30 percent of outstanding student loans now have past due balances. But, borrowers will remain liable for the debts since student loans cannot be erased through bankruptcy.

The Columbus, Ohio-based hamburger and casual dining chain has 79 company-owned restaurants and 27 owned by franchisees, all of which remain open. Most are in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, though the chain has a few locations in Kentucky and in Chicago, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

Pittsburgh-based G&R Acquisitions bought out Max & Erma’s for $10.2 million in April 2008.

Documents filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh say Max & Erma’s has between 200 and 999 creditors. Typically, companies file for Chapter 11 protection so they can reorganize or restructure debt. Robert Lampl, the chain’s attorney, says Max & Erma’s filed primarily because of money it owes to National City Bank.

Tracy Coats, spokesman for Max & Erma’s owner Gary Reinert, Sr. of Pittsburgh, says ironically, the restaurants are profitable.

Chrysler LLC has told a bankruptcy court it plans to eliminate 789 of its dealers – or about 25 percent of them – across the country as part of its restructuring process.

The automaker has about 3,200 dealers but says that’s too many. It wants to have stronger, more profitable dealers with better facilities.

Chrysler spokeswoman Kathy Graham says the company will notify specific dealers before commenting publicly.

The dealers likely will have a right to appeal to get off the list. The move could have a devastating impact on cities across the U.S., costing jobs and tax revenue.

While union lawyers yesterday argued against Delphi’s proposed wage and benefit reductions in a US bankruptcy court in New York, union members in Columbus were voting at local UAW headquarters to approve a strike authorization. Mark Sweazy, president of local 969 says Delphi – not the union – is solely to blame.

“This provocation that we have today was not brought on by any member or any part of the organization,” Sweazy says. “It was brought on by the bankruptcy filing of Delphi Corporation. So we’ve been put in a precarious situation. The corporation wants to nullify the agreement we have with them. So the international union wants us to be prepared if necessary should a strike be necessary.”

Delphi employs 13,000 workers at its ten plants in Ohio. The company wants to cut workers’ wages from $27 an hour to $16.50 if General Motors agrees to pay a portion of the amount. If not, wages would be reduced to $12.50 an hour. Evelyn Martin, who says she’s worked at the Columbus plant for 29 years, flatly rejects the proposal and says she voted in favor of the strike authorization.

“I voted “yes” because of what they’re trying to do to us,” Martin says. “You know the ‘man at the top,’ they’re making all the money and they want to cut our wages. And it’s not right. If they want to cut down to $10 or $12 an hour, they need to ask themselves if they can make it at $10 or $12 an hour. I don’t think so,” she says.

Delphi’s ‘man at the top,’ Steve Miller says difficult but necessary decisions have to be made if the company is to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He says labor agreements must be modified if the company is to remain competitive.

But Tom Meyers, who says he works for Delphi and the UAW, says a contract is a contract.

“I’m almost to retirement,” Meyers says. “And obviously to me, I want to keep my pension, I want to keep my benefits in tact. It was negotiated. It was all negotiated; nothing was ever given to us. Everything was always negotiated – it was give and take.”

But if negotiations between the union and Delphi fail, local UAW president Mark Sweazy says he thinks a strike might turn things around.

“With the pressure of a bankruptcy pending – which would mean disaster to General Motors – if we would shut down at Delphi for say, 60 days, it would cost that corporation $7 billion to $8 billion. That’s not our goal. But we want them to live up to their obligations,” Sweazy says.

All UAW members working at Delphi plants will complete voting on the strike authorization this week.

The company says it wants to close or sell 21 of its 29 plants in the US. Six Ohio plants, including the Columbus facility, would most likely be shut down.