Student debt crisis is a big school problem. This is America's small school moment

America's big-name schools have spent decades marketing themselves as the path to elite status. But it's financially irresponsible.

First, employers aren’t falling for the big schools’ claim that they can are the key to high-paying jobs. For example, I attended Plymouth State University, a small school in the mountains of New Hampshire. My communications career started next to big-name school graduates in Washington, D.C. – but nobody cared where I went to school. And no prospect has cared in my five years as a business owner.

This holds true even for technical jobs. Peraton spokesperson Greg Caufman told me that the company, a national security government contractor with over $7 billion in annual revenue, regularly hires from Maryland and Virginia state and community schools. And IT services government contractor Federal Resources Corporation’s talent pipeline goes straight through small schools in Erie, Pennsylvania.