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Essay on student debt
Problems of student debt
Problems of student debt
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The Boom The Boom of the college tuition bubble saw a visible increase in price due to massive demand and expanded credit, as caused by the Displacement demonstrated above. Students are investing more and more in college hoping for an advantage because of their degrees and many jobs require some level of postsecondary education, making the investment seem necessary. The demand increase for college becomes visible through the statistics of student loan debt. College Board’s Trends in Student Aid states that 10% of people graduating in 2007-8 had loans over $40,000. The Project on Student Debt discloses that 206,000 graduated from college in 2008 with more than $40,000 loan debt, a ninefold increase from 1996. Outstanding student debt has tripled in the past ten years, increasing from $363 billion to more than $1.3 trillion. Seven of ten students graduate from college with debt, exceeding credit card and auto loan debt combined. Currently, over 40 million people hold debt from their student loans, and annual …show more content…
The easy access to credit originated both from government programs encouraging loans, and changes to bankruptcy law. Since 1998, students can no longer discharge federal loans through bankruptcy, and in 2005, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act also protects private student loans. This protection makes student loans profitable and low-risk to providers, as they must be paid back. Stephen Burd, a senior research fellow at the New America Education Policy Program, called the protection as a “blank check to lenders” by the government saying “charge whatever interest rates you want and we’ll make sure that borrowers will have to repay you.” Loans, much like during the housing bubble, are granted regardless of ability to pay and without much risk as the debt carries until
Martin and Lehren’s article “A Generation Hounded by the Soaring Cost of College” addresses the issue faced by current and former college students dealing with large amounts of debt due to student loans. The article presents the reader with stories of former college students who have either graduated or dropped out, and their struggle to pay off their student loans. The article also talks about issues such as students not being informed about high amounts of student loans and why student debts have increased. Martin and Lehren also make the issue of student debt more intimidating by giving examples of high amounts of student loans students have had. The article gives a very hard reality check to anyone reading as to how bad the problem of student debt is.
Recent studies show that the number of individuals who default on their student loans has been steadily increasing as well. Statistics from the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) show that between 2004 and 2009 only 37% of federal student loan borrowers were able to make uninterrupted payments; it is an annual average of 7.4% (Cunningham, and Kienzl). According to IHEP, for every one borrower who defaulted, two ...
Many people would agree that our country’s young adults have and continue to incur a lifetime of debt by enrolling in college. It’s become an almost acceptable understanding that if you plan to attend college, you might as well expect to graduate with an enormous amount of debt. Robin Wilson, a reporter for the “Chronicle of Higher Education,” and author of “A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely” suggests student loans are very real and can be life altering.
The idea of freedom and equal opportunity that America was built on has sadly been lost and replaced with a system of quality education only being accessible by the wealthy. In-state college tuition should be free for all students meeting admission requirements, allowing students from the full spectrum of economic backgrounds to have the same opportunity to receive the same education. The incidence of poverty in the U.S. is directly linked to educational level. When a college degree is earned, income levels rise (College Board). The best use of federal government anti-poverty funds is not another welfare or assistance program; it is to make college education affordable for everyone.
When the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony founded the first college in America, Harvard, in 1636, it marked the beginning of college as the backbone to the American Dream (“About Harvard” ). Around the world, America is coveted for the “American Dream” in which someone can go from deep poverty, to unbelievable wealth, all by getting an education which allows a person to obtain any job and reach any economic level. The article “Peter Thiel Thinks You should skip college, and He’ll Even Pay For Your Trouble; The famous disrupted says overpriced universities hold back innovation, and what's to rewrite education to his liking” by Tom Clynes argues people should not attend college because it is a hindrance to innovation, while the article
An education is one of the most important tools a person can acquire. It gives them the skills and abilities to obtain a job, earn a wage, and then use that wage to better their lives and the lives of their loved ones. However, due to the seemingly exponential increase in the costs of obtaining a college degree, students are either being driven away entirely from earning a degree or taking out student loans which cripple their financial prospects well after graduation. Without question, the increasing national student loan debt is one of the most pressing economic issues the United States is dealing with, as students who are debt ridden are not able to consume and invest in the economy. Therefore, many politicians and students are calling on the government to forgive their student loan debts so that through their spending the slowly recovering economy can finally return to its pre-2008 strength.
For the past decade, The United States has stressed the importance of college education, to those seeking employment, and better careers. For most people, college is the logical next step in education, as it provides a working knowledge of a desired field and opens the door to many opportunities, but college has become increasingly more expensive as time goes on. Many people feel that college is no longer an option financially. Even with financial aid and scholarships, the cost of a college education can still be very taxing. This is due to massive price increase across the boards, but the main issue on most people’s minds is the debt that will be acquired from higher education.
Student loan debt makes up a large portion of the debt in this country today. Many defaulted loans are the demise of high interest rates, poor resources to students in educating them on other avenues and corruption in the governmental departments that oversee education and financing. There are many contributing factors that lead to the inability to pay off student loans which need government reform to protect the borrower’s best interests.
Today, more jobs require more than a high school diploma. In order to get a good paying job, a college degree is required. More people are attending college in order to get better paying jobs, but is going to college worth a good job with rising tuitions across the nation? According to College Board, from 2002-2003 to 2012-2013, the average tuition and fees for a private institution rose about an average of 2.4% every year. As tuition prices increases every year, it affects millions of college students. It affects college students who have to use government aid to assist paying for college.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, college tuition and relevant fees have increased by 893 percent (“College costs and the CPI”). 893 percent is a very daunting percentage considering that it has surpassed the rise in the costs of Medicare, food, and housing. As America is trying to pull out of a recession, many students are looking for higher education so they can attain a gratified job. However, their vision is being stained by the dreadful rise in college costs. College tuition is rising beyond inflation. Such an immense rise in tuition has many serious implications for students; for example, fewer students are attending private colleges, fewer students are staying enrolled in college, and fewer students are working in the fields in which they majored in.
Over the last few decades, college tuitions and fees have increased by over one thousand percent, surpassing every category associated with the cost of living including food and medical. This unprecedented rise in cost has resulted in an avalanche of issues for young and middle-age adults. As, a result of steep student loan amounts, graduates are being forced to move back with their parents, fewer young people are becoming homeowners, they are delaying retirement saving, and are dropping out of college at an alarming rate of nearly fifty percent. With all the controversy surrounding the topic of increasing college cost, the revised income-driven repayment program has been created to help borrowers pay back student loans according to their income.
With the ever-increasing tuition and ever-tighten federal student aid, the number of students relying on student loan to fund a college education hits a historical peak. According to a survey conducted by an independent and nonprofit organization, two-thirds of college seniors graduated with loans in 2010, and each of them carried an average of $25,250 in debt. (Reed et. al., par. 2). My research question will focus on the profound effect of education debt on American college graduates’ lives, and my thesis statement will concentrate on the view that the education policymakers should improve financial aid programs and minimize the risks and adverse consequences of student loan borrowing.
Public college tuition fees need to increase and not have a ceiling set on them because over time instructional costs increase due to rising wages, salaries and inflation. If there were a ceiling government taxes would increase, and last many amenities would have to be subtracted.
One of the large, and growing, problems in the U.S. today is student loan debt. Most people don’t realize the significance of this issue unless they are directly affected by it because they don’t feel the burden it puts on a person. Not only is hurting those who have the debt, but now it is starting to affect institutions and the economy in America. It has major effects on family life, job opportunities, the U.S. economy, and the ability of a person to succeed in life. Some people have started notice the severity of this situation linking its cause to supply and demand, and also to the lack of state funding. With all of this mind the government has taken some action to help lower the burden of student debt, but it is still very prevalent in todays society. The impact that student debt is having is extremely important and shouldn’t be dismissed, especially because it will only continue to grow and worsen the issues it affects.
In that year, the number of college graduates was only 432,058 (Sourmaidis) and ever since the demand continually increased as did price. This trend allowed for the student loan crisis to occur, which is a problem we face today. As of 2016, American students have accrued a massive 1.3 trillion in student loan debt. Just 10 years ago, the nation’s balance was only $447 billion (Clements). This ever-present cumulative burden has caused many post graduate Americans to delay important life events such as marriage, homeownership and children because of this substantial encumbrance (Clements).