Student Loan Debt Recently, the issue of student loans and the debt often accumulated through the utilization of those loans has come to the forefront. Student loans have become an indispensible means by which families are able to pay for higher education. The cost to attend institutions of higher education has soared over the last decade. In fact, the cost to attend college can amount to more than $50,000 per year at some private colleges and universities. Now that Americans owe more on student loans than on credit cards, the issue of spiraling student debt has moved increasingly higher on the political agenda.
In both good times and bad, state governments have pushed more of the costs onto students, forcing many to take out big loans or be priced out of once affordable public colleges at a time when a college education is critical in the new economy. (NY
Since the begging of the American deficit the American upper class has been constantly gaining ground and earning more and more dollars per capita every year ("Occupy Wall Street"). While on the other hand the middle class has been slowly losing ground on the upper class and the income per capita is slowly decreasing. If the trend continues there will only be an upper powerhouse class and a lower poor class. This angers a large amount of the population. Not only is it just money figures it’s the idea that these middle class students are going to college for several years on a promise that if they get that degree they will be able to live comfortably, and due to the current state of economy this is just not true.
Inflation aside, this means college is getting more expensive. Unless your parents are wealthy enough to pay for your tuition or you worked your tail off to receive a full-ride scholarship, more often than not, you have to take out student loans to fund your education. As a result of the high price tag of getting an education, many graduates struggle when faced with the trouble of paying off that huge debt. It’s no longer a right to attend higher education. To many, myself included, attending college is now a luxury.
Tuition is on the rise due to the influx of student demand, construction and expansion of college campuses, and overhead expenses. Most of those expenses are paid for with donations and debt, but the labor costs are the most expensive. In an article by Steve Odland, he mentions, “The baby boomlet or baby boom echo group born between 1988 and 1995 have flooded colleges with demand for a limited number of spot” (Odland). In return, the demand has increased costs and universities raise prices. Odland also mentions the rising costs can be traced back to the administrative side.
In the bad economy of today, tuition rate are increasing constantly. It is difficult for students to find colleges who have tuition rates for full time student under $5,000 per semester. Since UTA uses flat rate, full time students have to pay $4439 per semester which include using every facilities available and 12 to 30 credit hours (“Description of Tuition, Fees and Charges”).This way student who are taking more classes can save a lot of money than student who are taking less classes. UTA also meets the demand for graduate students. The graduation rate shows successful completion of college and gives an idea about quality of the program provided by college.
Although it seems that we are making great strides in education with increased admissions for college students in diverse social, income and ethnic groups, that because these students are not getting degrees the gap between rich and poor continues to increase, and these achievements in education are not as valid as they seem. The article says that universities which have higher enrollment rates of students from low-income families also have lower graduation rates. However, at institutions with the highest graduation rates such as the University of Colorado and Stanford, a large majority of the students come from high-income homes, a statistic that has continued to rise the past 20 years. At elite universities, the student-body populations are becoming more and more diverse as far as cultural and religious background, but these students all share an upper-middle class upbringing. According to the Department of Education “only 41 percent of low-income students entering a four-year college managed to
In the article “What’s Wrong With Vocational School” written by Charles Murray, he gives his opinion about the unnecessary of four year college’s program compares to vocational training. I find this article have some very interesting ideas which I both agree and disagree I agree with his statement in the fourth paragraph about how many students attend college because their parents are paying for it and it is what they supposed to do after their finish high school. Many students do not have any real goals or any ideas of what they are going to do for their life, but going to a four year college is an obligation because their parents have spent so much money for them through high school, and now college. Automatically, their job is to do well in school and finish with a four year degree so that they can be prepared for their future without the supporting from their parents. This is a common sense that many of us all know as an adult; yet not all young people understand this fact.
Some might not believe this, but one study says that it exceeds credit card debt by over $1 trillion (Woodruff 1). Credit card debt seems to get more glitz and glam in the national media, but no one seems to realize student debt is a bigger problem. That isn’t all though, because late last year, the Federal Reserve reported that borrowing covering student loans increased $15.2 billion, while debt from credit cards rose only $817 million from October to November 2012 (Crutsinger 1). This shows that more attention needs to be put on fixing student loan problems so that we can inject more jobs into our economy, thus possibly fixing some credit card debt woes as well because it would enable civilians to have more cash at their
Possibly one of the biggest stressors for most college students is the considerable debt they will have to take on, in order to afford tuition fees and textbooks. More and more students have to pay for college on their own, or with little assistance from their parents. Quite often this is a source of great concern for an individual that is straight out of high school and may not be financially stable (Driscoll, 2011). At the same time as the debt alone is stressful, the need to service this debt can cause students to over-extend themselves. This means that they have to take on a second job or work long hours