经济学人:学生贷款的经济效益 分级教育

 　　Finance and Economics

　　财经

　　Student Loans: Grading Education

　　学生贷款：分级教育

　　A fintech startup treats student loans a serious investments.

　　一家新兴金融科技公司把学生贷款作为正经投资。

　　IN AN old factory building in lower Manhattan a fintech startup is seeking answers to a question that has tormented¹ teachers and students for decades: what is the value of a given course, teacher or institution?

　　在下曼哈顿区的一幢老旧厂房里，一家金融科技新秀正试图解答一个困扰着教师和学生们数十载的问题：一门课程、一名教师或是一间学府，它/他们的价值是什么？

　　学生贷款分级教育.jpeg

　　Climb Credit, with just two dozen employees, provides student loans.

　　Climb Credit 依靠着仅仅二十四名员工，开展学生贷款业务。

　　The programmes it finances bring returns far higher than can be expected from even highly rated universities.

　　其财政项目回报远高于那些高评级大学期待。

　　Climb does not claim to nurture² billionaires, nor to care much about any of the intangible benefits of education.

　　Climb公司并没有声称要去培养亿万富豪，也没有特别关心教育所带来的无形好处。

　　Rather, it focuses on sharp, quantifiable increases in earnings³.

　　相反，它关注的是快速的、可计量的营收增长。

　　The average size of its loans is $10,000 and it normally finances programmes of less than a year.

　　平均贷款额度是10,000美金，且一般资助低于一年的项目。

　　The subjects range from coding to web design, from underwater welding to programming robots for carmakers (which has the highest rate of return).

　　其中涉及的学科从编程到网站设计，从水下焊接到为汽车制造商编写机器人程序（这是最高回报率的学科）。

　　Some students have scant⁴ formal education; others advanced degrees.

　　一些学生缺乏正规的教育，而另一些拥有高等学历。

　　The rate of return they get is calculated as the uplift in earnings after the course of study, minus its cost (which includes that of servicing the loan, and takes account of the absence of earnings during the course).

　　他们所得到的回报率是根据学习结束后的收入增长减去课程花费所得到的（其中课程花费包括贷款的花费以及考虑了课程期间没有收入来源这一因素）。

　　Climb’s results so far are hardly conclusive⁵.

　　目前为止，Climb Credit 的成果尚未有定论。

　　It has released only the number of loan applications: just 10,000 since its founding in 2014.

　　它仅仅发布了贷款申请数：自2014年成立起，才收到一万份。

　　Many institutions it works with do not offer the four-year and two-year courses eligible⁶ for federal funding, which account for 19m students.

　　与之合作的许多院校不提供符合联邦基金条件的四年制与两年制课程，而这些课程涵盖一千九百万名学生。

　　Instead, its market for now is among the 5m studying in more focused programmes.

　　相反，Climb Credit 的市场到目前只处于接受更为专门化培养教育的五百万学生中。

　　Past efforts to rank education providers based on the financial return they offer have struggled.

　　过去那些基于财富回报而为教育提供者排名的努力还在挣扎。

　　The data are often drawn⁷ from patchy surveys.

　　数据往往来自东拼西凑的调查。

　　It is hard to compare different courses over different time spans.

　　很难在不同的时间跨度上比较不同的课程。

　　Climb tracks every loan it makes, along with data such as subject area, teacher, institution, job offers and salaries.

　　Climb 跟踪调查了他们发放的每一笔贷款，连同调查了诸如学科领域、教师院校、就职机会与薪酬的数据。

　　Its interest rates average 9% a year, roughly double the government rate, and can be as high as 15%.

　　贷款年收益率平均为9%，约为政府利率的两倍，最高可达15%。

　　It shuns⁸ some fields, such as acting⁹ or modelling, altogether, if there is no evidence that a course delivers a return.

　　如果在某些领域中，没有证据表明是培训课程带来的回报，公司也完全会回避这些专业领域，比如表演与模特。

　　So far, the firm’s approach has worked: its default rates are in the low single digits¹⁰.

　　迄今为止，公司的运作模式已经奏效：违约率在不高的个位数。

　　Climb’s credit offering covers 70 institutions; another 150 are being vetted¹¹.

　　Climb Credit 提供的信贷业务已经覆盖七十家教育机构；另有一百五十家正在审查中。

　　As many as 3,000 may eventually qualify.

　　最终可能有多达三千家机构获得审批。

　　Climb’s attraction is obvious: an expanded student base.

　　Climb Credit的魅力显而易见：扩张后的学生基数很大。

　　But many will balk¹² at the tough provisions Climb imposes.

　　但是许多人将畏于接受Climb Credit 强加的强硬条款。

　　Students must be given a drop-out period, when they can leave without any loan obligation. (A review of data on conventional student loans suggested that those most likely to default had begun classes, taken on debt and then quit the course before they had acquired any new skills.）

　　学生们必须获得一段退学期，期间他们可以退出而不必有任何债务负担。（在对传统学生贷款数据进行梳理之后，发现最有可能出现违约的情况是学生去上学，进行贷款，然后在学到任何新技能之前就退学了。）

　　If a student does default, the school is usually responsible for more than 20% of the unpaid¹³ debt.

　　如果有学生确实存在违约行为，学校通常会承担未偿债务的20%以上。

　　That gives it an incentive¹⁴ to pick students carefully and train them well.

　　这样学校就有动力去认真挑选学员，提高教学质量。

　　In conventional student loans, interest and principal accumulate silently.

　　在传统的学生贷款中，利息与本金是悄悄积累的。

　　On graduation, the monthly repayment¹⁵ bill comes as a shock.

　　在学生毕业时，月度支付账单会吓人一跳。

　　Climb students start making tiny payments as soon as they take out a loan (refunded if they drop out fast).

　　Climb Credit放贷的学生一获得贷款就开始小额地偿还债务（如果他们不久就退学，会退回这笔钱）。

　　Climb hopes to make its success-rate data public, to help both students and lenders.

　　Climb Credit 希望可以公开它的成功率数据，这样既有助于学生们，也有助于放贷人。

　　It already makes good use of its network of education providers: it has hired three former students from institutions within it.

　　公司已经充分利用了它的教育提供方网络：Credit Credit 现已从中雇佣了之前在教育机构的三名学员。

　　1.take out 取出；发泄

　　例句:Jessica's grandparents took her out for the day.

　　杰茜卡的祖父母带她出去玩了一天。

　　2.drop out 退出；退学

　　例句:He'd dropped out of high school at the age of 16.

　　他16岁的时候就从中学退学了。

　　3.as soon as 一...就

　　例句:As soon as we found this out, we closed the ward¹⁶.

　　我们一发现此事就关闭了病房。

　　4.makes good use of 充分利用

　　例句:A smart student always makes good use of time.

　　一个聪明的学生总会充分利用时间。

1 tormented   

饱受折磨的

参考例句：

• The knowledge of his guilt tormented him. 知道了自己的罪责使他非常痛苦。
• He had lain awake all night, tormented by jealousy. 他彻夜未眠，深受嫉妒的折磨。

2 nurture   

n.养育，照顾，教育；滋养，营养品；vt.养育，给与营养物，教养，扶持

参考例句：

• The tree grows well in his nurture.在他的培育下这棵树长得很好。
• The two sisters had received very different nurture.这俩个姊妹接受过极不同的教育。

3 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

4 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。

5 conclusive   

adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的

参考例句：

• They produced some fairly conclusive evidence.他们提供了一些相当确凿的证据。
• Franklin did not believe that the French tests were conclusive.富兰克林不相信这个法国人的实验是结论性的。

6 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 shuns   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• We must not reproach her, or she shuns us. 我们可不要责备她，否则她要躲避我们。 来自辞典例句
• Any of them shuns, impedes, or attempts at inspection. 一规避、妨碍或拒绝检查。 来自互联网

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 vetted   

v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的过去式和过去分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• The recruits were thoroughly vetted before they were allowed into the secret service. 情报机关招募的新成员要经过严格的审查。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All staff are vetted for links with extremist groups before being employed. 所有职员录用前均须审查是否与极端分子团体有关。 来自辞典例句

12 balk   

n.大方木料；v.妨碍；不愿前进或从事某事

参考例句：

• We get strong indications that his agent would balk at that request.我们得到的强烈暗示是他的经纪人会回避那个要求。
• He shored up the wall with a thick balk of wood.他用一根粗大的木头把墙撑住。

13 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

14 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

15 repayment   

n.偿还，偿还款；报酬

参考例句：

• I am entitled to a repayment for the damaged goods.我有权利索取货物损坏赔偿金。
• The tax authorities have been harrying her for repayment.税务局一直在催她补交税款。

16 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。