In another post (in Swedish) the main source of funding higher education “CSN “Centrala studiestödsnämnden”, The Swedish Student Aid is being citized to inhibit lifelong learning. However, this is also the case of the majority of the existing education and school systems around the world. Traditional education and conventional school systems around the world are either being inherited or copied. These systems are supported by funding structures, traditions, market and employment rules that hinder life-long learning.
Student loans are designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. Such loans differ from other types of loans what regards interest rate and the repayment schedule. They also differ in many countries in the strict laws regulating renegotiating and bankruptcy. This article highlights the differences of the student loan system in several major countries (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loan).
Formal education falls short of the requirements of a lifelong learning system in many terms. The needs for lifelong learning are enormous and expanding as jobs for life are a thing of the past. We need to bring on lifelong learning. Indeed, initiatives to help learners of all ages have been beset by problems, but it’s high time now to look at new models for a shifting employment landscape. There many reasons why lifelong learning should be a standard policy rather than an exception. The global employment and market landscape has changed in many aspects. Globalization, migration-integration pressures, growing global population with demographic anomalies, increasing free-mobility of labor and money and above all the ongoing transformation to sustainable socio-economic structures as consequence of recently launched UN-SDGs.
For some more reading see: https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2016/may/31/jobs-for-life-are-a-thing-of-the-past-bring-on-lifelong-learning
https://books.google.se/books?id=zfiyjdfSgUMC&pg=PR16&lpg=PR16&dq=student+loans+inhibits+lifelong+learning&source=bl&ots=yHY19e_L2u&sig=K1yvzYvPPQBPprEEJzrv0acitno&hl=sv&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKvITf55_PAhXKJSwKHfIFDpgQ6AEIHzAA#v=onepage&q=student%20loans%20inhibits%20lifelong%20learning&f=false
