Obtaining higher education in United States costs money!
Weather you are trying to obtain undergraduate degree, masters or doctorate, at
an in or out of state university/college and you do not have an option to pay
out of pocket (including scholarships), your only other option is to obtain
student loans. As data suggests, in
2013, student loan debt has surpassed $1 trillion. Student loans are highly
unpopular but unavoidable for two thirds of students. Outside of making education more affordable,
which seems to be second in line to our current healthcare system debate, we
can eliminate that as a solution in near future. With this in mind, what are the short term
solutions to at least containing the student loan debt so once we graduate we
have a fighting chance?
Majority of today’s scholars and analysts look to policy
makers to control the interest rates, reduce cost of education and debt
forgiveness. Some even suggest Wall Street to
pay for it. Not likely to be implemented
or provide immediate relief for current student with mortgage crisis at the
tail end and ongoing attempts at healthcare system reforms. Lets explore the
idea of educating future college students of high costs and consequences of
student loan debt before kids make a choice of the university:
Students at the high school level make decisions where they
will go to college without considering full picture. At the time most students make decisions
about their higher education, those decisions are mainly made based on the idea
of college experience, campus life, etc.
Expense of college is considered, but it is not a determining
factor. Considering today’s power of
information, more should be done to educate future college students about
financial burden of obtaining student loans.
Not to discourage from obtaining higher education, but to encourage
smarter financial decisions early on.
Instate vs. out of state tuition? Considering the nature of today’s
universities, majority of states have sufficient choices for it’s residents to
obtain the education of choice. One
should consider the cost of tuition increase of obtaining a degree in desired
field in state or out of state. Tuition
costs are significant enough for cost vs. benefit analysis to be
considered.
We have experienced and barely have recovered for mortgage
crisis; crises caused by purchases made based on idealism and without worry
about the ability to repay. Can we learn
from the experiences past and try to avoid another bubble to burst?!
