More Bad News

Well this is depressing:

Minnesota, ranked for several years as the healthiest state in the nation, has slipped to No. 4, according to annual rankings released Wednesday by the United Health Foundation.

A greater number of children in poverty and a big drop in public health spending pushed the state down from its 2007 spot as No. 2. Before last year, Minnesota had held the top spot for four consecutive years.

Good to know that Minnesota is treating its children well.

In Minnesota, average per person public health spending dropped from $62 to $45, making it 43rd in the nation. The share of children living in poverty increased from 11 percent to nearly 14 percent. Obesity rates jumped from 25 to 26 percent in the last year, up from 10 percent of the population in 1990.

So not only are there more poor children in Minnesota, we’re spending less to keep them healthy. Nice. And if these kids didn’t have it bad enough, it turns out that they probably won’t be able to afford to go to college.

The rising cost of college — even before the recession — threatens to put higher education out of reach for most Americans, according to the biennial report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Over all, the report found, published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation, while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade, and students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families…

… “The middle class has been financing it through debt,” he said. “The scenario has been that families that have a history of sending kids to college will do whatever if takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt.”

But low-income students, he said, will be less able to afford college. Already, he said, the strains are clear.

I can testify to the “huge amounts of debt” part. When I finish law school next year, my fiancee and I will have a combined education debt exceeding $200,000 (for two Bachelor’s degrees and one J.D. or just over $65,000 per degree) As Tom Rukavina is fond of saying, that’s like having a mortgage but no house. But don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Its my kids (and yours too) that are really in trouble.