Drowning in debt
How privatization and the rise of a for-profit loan industry hurts students
Tyler Zimmer
Issue date: 12/8/06 Section: Opinion
In an era when an undergraduate degree is rapidly becoming a necessity for more and more positions in the job market, it is infuriating to see the financial accessibility of university education diminishing simultaneously. This is in large measure due to the crippling effects of debt that many students face after their undergraduate career.
As Jeffrey J. Williams noted in a recent article in Dissent, "student loans, for more than half of those attending college, are the new paradigm of college funding. Consequently, student debt is, or soon will be, the new paradigm of early to middle adult life."
In 2002, undergraduates emerged from their college careers with over $18,900 in debt, and there is reason (given ever-rising tuition, cost of living and other expenses, such as books and laptops) to believe that this figure has risen considerably since that time. According to Campus Progress, total student debt in the United States is more than $438 billion, and it is outpacing the starting salaries of jobs in teaching and social work. This alters the career choices of students and curtails the scope of their life choices, which is doubly frustrating since we believe higher education should increase opportunity. Campus Progress estimates that between 2001 and 2010, two million academically qualified students will not go to college because they cannot afford it.
While left-leaning organizations like Campus Progress have invested much effort in action campaigns designed to raise awareness about the issue (they are currently collaborating with Jay-Z on one such endeavor), there is still a substantial lack of both student involvement with the issue as well as political responsiveness in Washington.
Given that this issue disproportionately affects younger generations more and more, it is immediately relevant to Americans considering or already enrolled in college. However, while most recipients certainly understand the importance of federal financial aid in their lives, there is not enough widespread knowledge of the politics motivating the entire enterprise.
As Jeffrey J. Williams noted in a recent article in Dissent, "student loans, for more than half of those attending college, are the new paradigm of college funding. Consequently, student debt is, or soon will be, the new paradigm of early to middle adult life."
In 2002, undergraduates emerged from their college careers with over $18,900 in debt, and there is reason (given ever-rising tuition, cost of living and other expenses, such as books and laptops) to believe that this figure has risen considerably since that time. According to Campus Progress, total student debt in the United States is more than $438 billion, and it is outpacing the starting salaries of jobs in teaching and social work. This alters the career choices of students and curtails the scope of their life choices, which is doubly frustrating since we believe higher education should increase opportunity. Campus Progress estimates that between 2001 and 2010, two million academically qualified students will not go to college because they cannot afford it.
While left-leaning organizations like Campus Progress have invested much effort in action campaigns designed to raise awareness about the issue (they are currently collaborating with Jay-Z on one such endeavor), there is still a substantial lack of both student involvement with the issue as well as political responsiveness in Washington.
Given that this issue disproportionately affects younger generations more and more, it is immediately relevant to Americans considering or already enrolled in college. However, while most recipients certainly understand the importance of federal financial aid in their lives, there is not enough widespread knowledge of the politics motivating the entire enterprise.
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