Argumentative Essay: Reducing Student Loan Debt

When you make any charges on a line of credit you will be subjected to interest rates that can increase your debts steadily over time. This debt can creep up on you without knowing too.

The main problems with student debt are the high monthly payments, high interest, short grace period, and repayment programs that does not apply to everyone. Majority of students can’t pay back loans they have borrowed because they aren’t given enough time to pay them off. Students have at least six months to pay off their debt before they get an increase in interest. Over 75% percent of students have to get loans to pay for their first year of college and more (Quadlin). Debt is something we all have to deal with even parents suffer from them as well.

Does the amount of student loan debt have an effect on the economy? If so would forgiving student loan debt help lower the national debt or would it just increase it? According to Mary Claire Fischer, a writer for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, “two-thirds of students who receive bachelor’s degrees leave college with debt in tow” (Fischer). Among these students, the average amount owed is twenty-six thousand dollars (Fischer). There is a six month grace period after graduation to allow the student time to find a job and programs to try to help eliminate debt. “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that one-fourth of the American workforce may be eligible for repayment or loan forgiveness programs” (Atteberry). The

A problem with student loan debt is that students gain more debt because they are not able to pay off the student loans within the given time which also causes them to put certain life decisions on hold. According to Sophie Quinton debt is a problem for the recent college graduates because “There’s currently no way to get rid of federal student debt other than paying off the loans. while some borrowers are paying off their debts just fine, overall they are adding debt faster than they are shedding it”(Quinton). According to Jamaal Abdul-Alim stated that a “survey - titled Student Loan Debt: Who’s Paying the Price?- revealed a number of troubling statistics about the practical ways that student loans are impacting college graduates in their everyday lives. For instance the survey found that: 49

College students graduate with an average student loan debt of approximately $37000. Of course, that's not the whole story. Millions of college graduates have student loan debts ranging from $50,000 to over $200,000.

Student loan debt relief is a controversial issue in America today. Student loan debt affects twelve million college students, roughly 60% of all college attendees, per year (Student Loan Debt Statistics). Student loan debt relief rose to the forefront of economic news during the financial market crash of 2008. The U.S. Government has developed a debt relief plan that extends payments over a 25-year period, with a full forgiveness of all remaining debt at the end of that 25-year term (Ensuring That Student Loans Are Affordable). During this repayment period, payments can be suspended during times of unemployment, giving hardship students a break from their student loan payments. Many people feel that student

College debt can stunt most students from pursuing their college dream and going to their school of choice. Students get scared of the word debt and the numbers that they would be dealing with outside of college. Students are putting aside going to their dream schools because of the fear of how much debt they will get into after college. There are many reasons why people don’t pursue college, or just from not being able to afford it. Students go back and look at not going to their dream college or college at all and regret not taking the challenge and going with what they always wanted to do. Some students experience not being in debt after college and why they think college tuition is right where it needs to be, but others will make shocking choices to not be in debt. College students are choosing not to pursue their dream college or college at all because of finances they would be dealing with after college, debt.

When we think about college and a college education, it seems as though our first initial thought is the student loans and debt that can result in achieving a college degree. Looking back, student debt has risen drastically and has made it extremely stressful for students and families. Many people go through their entire life in debt, especially from being a student. Student debt has always existed; however, now, it is so extreme, almost all students who attend college find themselves deep in debt, and must continue paying off their debt many years after they graduate. For the past two decades, student debt has risen, illustrating how big this social problem has become. The reason student debt is a significant social problem is because of how much it can effect a person’s life, and their families lives, that can carry over to their future. Although there were many things that led up to and impacted the drastic student debt that is now being faced by many students around the world, the corporation Sallie Mae, was the essential factor in why student debt has skyrocketed to unreasonable proportions. Sallie Mae provided the first type of corporation that changed its focus from helping students, to helping themselves. The history and scope of the student debt can help us understand that the corporation, Sallie Mae, was the main cause of this problem.

Because of the nation’s national rising debt, student loan forgiveness has been a significant topic of debate because of how much it can affect our nation’s debt and doesn’t always help the student. Student loan debt is one of the highest debt causes, but sometimes we forget that we are the ones that sign the line on the contract to be in years of debt. This is because we value our education. But this does not mean that just because we can’t find an amazing, high paying job right out of college that we should have our loans forgiven. We want the easy way out of something that isn’t easy, so why should the government pay for our debt? Yes, college is very expensive and that is the governments fault, but again we are the ones that signed the line on the loan papers. (Sam Adolphsen, 583)

College debt is becoming more of a drastic problem in the United States with the rising costs of college tuition. In “Why the Student Loan Crisis Is Even Worse Than People Think” Mark Kantrowitz expresses how the issue of student debt in America is to be blamed by the government’s lack of action. In “Is College Doomed?” Graeme Wood expresses the benefits of the new and innovative univeristy Minerva. A perk about this university is that it includes the cheaper tuition than other ivy league schools because of its lack of all the componenets of an average university. The government needs to be more involved in preventing future college students from graduating with overwhelming debt.

In the year 2007, 18.2 million students enrolled into college. About thirty-nine percent of those students were between the ages of eighteen to twenty-four (Marcus). College is seen as something one must do to be able to have a successful life or career. Student debt is almost guaranteed for anyone that goes into college. Seventy percent of bachelor's degree recipients graduate with student debt. Student loans in just the U.S. alone are up to 1.2 trillion dollars, this is the second highest level of consumer debt, just trailing behind mortgages (Snyder). Student debt has been an issue for anyone thinking about going into, that is attending, and graduating or leaving college. How to solve this issue is very simple, which is to save money, lower

Does the amount of student loan debt have an effect on the economy? If so would forgiving student loan debt help lower the national debt or would it just increase it? According to Mary Claire Fischer, a writer for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, “two-thirds of students who receive bachelor’s degrees leave college with an average debt of twenty-six thousand dollars” (Fischer). This means that the average student debt has doubled since 2007 (Ross 24). The total student loan debt is $1.2 trillion with $1 trillion being from federal student loans (Denhart). This debt accounts for six percent of our nation’s $16.7 trillion debt (Denhart). Since student loan debt is such a big part of the national debt, if the student

What do you think of when you hear the words college graduate? Well, in most scenarios, these words would be exciting to someone that just graduated college who have put in years of hard work and dedication to better educate and promote themselves for their future careers. Sadly enough, this is too far common not the case. In today’s society, students are graduating college with piles of debt at an alarming rate. With a troubled economy that is recovering from a recession and jobs difficult to come by for a lot of graduates with bachelor’s degrees, the student loan debt in the United States is bound to be a major crisis that could severely weaken and crimp the economy even more in the coming years.

My $15,000 debt has been around quite a long time and will probably take me about 10 more years to pay off. There have been periods where I have paid regularly but more periods where I have requested deferments. The government makes it very easy to defer and they give you quite a bit of latitude when it comes to making payments on the debt. I have never been in default and never will be barring a catastrophic life occurrence. I do not resent my debt and it will one day be a memory. Without student loans, I would not have been able to get the wonderful education I received from UCLA. My college years were wonderful - some of the best years of my life. The collegial environment, the rigorous academic requirements, the diverse group of people I came across and forged friendships with all contributed to an enriching educational experience. Therefore, yes the student loans were definitely worth it and they contributed to making me the person I am today. When I lost everything, I still had my education. I was the first person in my immediate family to go to college and received a write up in the local paper when I graduated. My loans were spent strictly on my college education. I was responsible for the cost of my education and used the loans for that purpose along with working two to three part time jobs during the school year and lining up a job for the summer. I have benefited greatly from my education. Not

The sheer amount of debt that a college student acquires after they finish their schooling is an egregious sum. The average amount that a borrower owes after they graduate is $26,000 (Denhart). These now excessive amounts of debt are thrust upon graduates, both young and old, and could take several years to pay off. Additionally, the national student debt has increased from $80 billion to $500 billion from 1995 to 2011 ("Student debt"). A young adult, fresh out of school, potentially has few approaches to attempt to decrease a debt of such enormity with perhaps a limited income. While less than 1% of people have loans