The term student debt has become a bit controversial in today's world; it strikes fear into the hearts of students and parents alike. This is because student debt is increasing at an incredible rate and everyone agrees that it is a major problem. Many solutions have been proposed to fix this problem, yet nothing has been done. This problem is projected to worsen in the near future. The causes of this are relatively simple and clear-cut. The increase in student debt is caused by a combination of factors including rising tuition, decreases in government funding, the shift to student loans, and increases in the overall costs of college.
Unsurprisingly, the cost of college tuition has skyrocketed in recent years, contributing to rising student
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Government funding once covered the majority of public college funding, but this has decreased significantly. Colleges then passed this burden on to students, thus increasing student debt. This funding issue is not a new problem:“ A long and steepening decline in state financial support of public colleges is responsible for most of the tuition increase”(Farish, 1). The amount of funding for colleges has been constantly decreasing. The longer this goes on the worse it will be for students in terms of tuition costs. The government has failed to increase aid even as costs increase dramatically. For instance the amount students receive from a Pell Grant today is the same as it was in the 70s adjusted for inflation (Long, 3). Meanwhile the costs of tuition has more than doubled.
Another major problem is that students are having to use loans to pay for increased costs. Over time, students have been forced to take out more student loans: “ Loans made up 58 percent of all student aid [in 2001], compared with 41 percent in 1980, when the Pell Grant was at the height of its buying power”(“Tuitions Rise Sharply”, 2). With the loss of grants and the increase of student loans, student debt began to increase rapidly. Students now have to pay for an increasing percentage of their education. As private student loans became available, debt increased even more: “The intersection of student need and increased availability of bank loans--even if with higher
This report examines the increasing trends in the amount of debt students are graduating with. The purpose of this report is to prove why these trends need to be stopped, and how they can be stopped. After viewing the statistics from 1993 to the present it will be obvious that student debt is not rising at a steady pace, but that its growth is leading to large financial burdens by many students. Recommendations are given about the actions that can be taken by not only students, but everyone to help improve this dire situation. The changes that student loans have been through over the last couple of years will have a lasting effect on current students, prospective students, parents, and those who have graduated and
“Ensuring quality higher education is one of the most important things we can do for our future generations” (Ron Lewis). There are more students enrolling in post-secondary schools than ever before and consequently there are more students acquiring large debts. Once a student graduates, they enter a $33,000 or more student loan debt (Students Loan Resources). These student loans continue to place graduates into large debts, which is largely caused by their lack of knowledge of available resources, and this impacts their everyday lives and future generations.
With this increase in tuition costs it is making a college education more and more unaffordable and putting students in more debt.
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
Along with the average tuition increasing, so has the average income of Americans. In order to afford college tuition, student loans, financial aid, and scholarships come in handy for the time being. Unfortunately, American’s who have finished college still have a load of debt to pay off for many years after graduating. Americans are spending money they don 't have to finance educations they are not sure are worth it. In some cases, students who find jobs right out of high school are left without college debt, but also without a degree. On the other hand, many people who attend college have large college debts yet have a decent
Here in the United States, there are many forms of consumer debt, which help contribute to the large sums of debt countless Americans find themselves faced with. Directly effecting many college students is student loan debt. Student loan debt is now the second largest form of consumer debt behind housing” declares the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Grisales). This is due to the fact that student loan debt grew 7.1% in 2014 to $1.2 trillion (Grisales). If this statistic alone is not worrisome this next one is sure to be. The amount of debt in the housing market that helped to spark the last recession was only $1.3 trillion (Grisales). Due to the increased amount of debt required by students to attend college many students are feeling the wrath. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “In 2014, 11.7 percent of females and 17.7 percent of males between the ages 25 and 34 were living with their parents” (Grisales). The fear of obtaining massive amounts of debt is driving the current generation of student’s to put off many future hopes and dreams. While causing them to move back home to save money. The current student loan crisis is crippling the economy and ruining the lives of American students.
The student debt is rising higher each year. When students do not have enough money to go pay for college,
College debt has risen significantly since “The Great Recession” in 2009. Due to the high college fees, students are faced with lifelong debt. If the rise continues, only the rich will be able to obtain a higher education, resulting in American education to take several steps backwards instead of improving. Although many have tried to fix college debt problem, it has mostly gone unnoticed. Specifically targeting the nation’s youth, college debt is destroying the chances of the lasting effects on the economy from fully recovering.
In 1976, the average cost to attend a four year public university was $2,175; today, the average cost to attend a four year public university is $25,000 (Snyder). This means it is 1150% more expensive to go to college in The United States today than it was 30 years ago. This obviously would create a problem on how we as people are going to pay for our higher education. Today college has become almost a necessity to have a satisfactory life, and with these rising prices some individuals believe student loans are the only option. There are many reasons as to why the prices have risen, but the one undeniable fact is that this has created a problem within our country. Which, is known as the student debt crisis, and it has been on the rise the past couple years. This problem is affecting people all around the United States, and is causing multitude of problems for them all because they wanted to pursue higher education. Wanting to better your opportunities by bettering yourself is not something that needs to be punished, and sadly that is what is happening. This problem is something that needs to be fixed for the sake of Americans and our economy, but will also take time and a multitude of steps to correct.
In 1965, the President of the United States Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965. This allowed for many things needed in the higher education system, one of them being low interest loans to students who need financial assistance to get through college. This is where the debt problem begins, but does not get out of control until the most recent past decade. Some of the drastic increase of debt can be contributed to more people going to college, but can also be contributed to state schools receiving less money from their respective states and needing to raise tuition and all other fees to cover the difference. Schools do have other justifiable reasons to raise rates as well, such as utilities, upgrades to the campus upon requests of the student population, employee wages, no one is willing to work
The cost of attending college has risen drastically over the years. Statistics show that there has been a 260% increase in tuition costs since 1980. The increase in tuition cost equates to an increase in money borrowed to fund higher education. An increase in money borrowed results in an increase in debt accumulated over time. As a result of the rising figures, the economy as a whole has also suffered because of the restricted financial space many graduates find themselves in upon completion of their degree. In this paper, we will discuss college costs, reasons why they have risen, and the best way for students to pay for it.
As a result of this, states receive pressure to make up for this and must raise tuition. Grant donors are also becoming less generous in their contributions to students as well. This makes affording college even harder for students.
The cost of tuition at colleges and universities in the United States has seen a steady increase over last several decades. Since the 1980s, the list price for tuition has risen by roughly 7% per year, while the inflation rate has averaged 3.2% per year. The effect of this mismatch in the rise of the cost of tuition versus the average inflation rate has had monumental effects on the ability of students to afford a higher education. This, in turn, has forced more students to take out increasingly large amounts of loans, causing for the national student loan debt to grow to over $1 trillion dollars, more than total credit card
In 2016, an accumulation of almost 1.4 trillion dollars of student loan debt was outstanding in America (Kess). Students from all over the nation, and the world for that matter, are going to higher education without the financial ability to do so. One of the few options for financial aid available to these prospective college students is to take out student loans to pay for the high tuition of most universities and colleges. While these loans are a modality for attending higher education, they often come with strings. Along with being several thousand dollars in debt, interest also accumulates into the total amount of the owed financial total. Until these loans are repaid the interest keep accumulating and the debt grows. With debt still affecting students negatively well after they finish their higher education, the price of college tuition should be abated.
The rising costs of formal education has become a real and concerning issue for most Americans. Whitehouse.gov states, the average income of families has remained roughly the same in the last three decades. In that time the tuition rates have more than tripled. This leaves families struggling to get their kids through school. According to Forbs, universities and colleges have been raising their tuition fees by 2 to 5% each year. Forbs also found that in public schools while students are paying more for their education, the college or university is spending less money on the student’s education. Forbs explains that the 2008 recession is largely to blame. On the contrary, that was 6 years ago and public schools are still spending less money on student’s education but charging the student more for it. This means that the tuition students are paying is not being