Most people who go into education don’t expect to make a lot of money. If they had that expectation, they would be demented, since teaching is not known as a profession that is high-paying.
But yes, there is a way to get rich in education, and it is not by becoming a teacher.
Become a bill collector of college debt! That’s the ticket! John Hechinger discovered that one collection agent made $454,000 last year by dunning students to pay back their loans. His boss made over $1 million. Several other debt collectors in the same agency made more than $300,000 annually. How cool is that? (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-15/taxpayers-fund-454-000-pay-for-collector-chasing-student-loans.html)
It’s a well-known fact, documented again recently in the New York Times, that student loans now exceed one trillion dollars. Pursuing hapless students and collecting what they owe turns out to be a way to fast riches.
Why struggle to get your students to learn when you can pursue them to pay back their debts?
In a sane world with sane and smart education policies, the federal government would assume a larger portion of the cost of higher education, so that those who want to learn more were not crushed by student loans.
But our government decided some years back that education was a consumer good, not a basic human right, so the consumer should shoulder most of the burden.
This is short-sighted. I now encounter many college graduates waiting on tables, clerking in stores, delivering rental cars, and doing all sorts of make-work, just trying to pay back their student loans.
Why should anyone get rich on the financial misery created by bad government policy?
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you for writing about this. Higher public education is also a right — and it’s telling that there has been a student strike in Quebec for the past several months (approximately 1/4 students have not been attending classes in the province), to protest tuition hikes. Yet it’s had next to no coverage in the major American newspapers. Teachers and students need to mobilize now, more than ever, and the “Quebec Spring” can be a true source of inspiration. For more information on this underrepresented but historic movement, visit: option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=8275.
Keep in mind that although their tuition is far, far lower — they are fighting to prevent any hikes, and turning into the USA — which is starting to look like a dystopian lab of austerity measures. So what are Americans doing about it, even though tuition costs make university a distant dream for even members of middle class?
Nobody should be chained by student loan debt for the rest of their lives. Sadly, doctors are choosing to reject fields like gerontology and general medicine, to inject botox, because — how else are they going to pay back those loans?
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sorry — here is the active link to the video referenced above, on the Quebec student protests
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=8275
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It is far from a singular incident, as a matter of fact it is a trend from education to healthcare the practice of chaining, threatening harassing people. It seem to represent America’s moral bankruptcy when cruelty replaces solidarity and compassion, when the society is being pushed to put profit over people and wealth over welfare. The only part of the economy that does thrives is the vulture economy where parasites like hedge fund managers, gambling bankers and collection agencies roam free and above the law. They have been accumulating extreme wealth by depriving school children, students, working people, poor people, unions, and the sick from their basic rights and dignity.
It is recommended to read this NYT article regarding those emergency room vultures:
and how they are given public money and government protection in Chicago:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/rahm-emanuel-chicago-mayor_n_1500124.html
Education is yet another ground for those vultures to make money – the tax payer of course – with little work no scrutiny and no real results apart from huge paychecks.
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