Researching Possible Financial Strategies Current College Students Essay

Student loan debt has become a discouraging problem throughout today’s economical foundation. “Overall debt is falling but student loan debt is increasing year-over-year and at a much faster rate,” chief executive David Stevens told The Washington Post. “[Young graduates] are already on the margin for being able to qualify for a mortgage. If you add on a

“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.

The later idea suggests that one of the major conflicts associated with credit card debt among college students is because of the relaxed view taken on credit. To illustrate, “83% of college undergraduate students in the US have credit cards…”(Wang & Xiao, 2009) exemplifying the potential danger of accruing debt by signing up for so manu credit cards. Furthermore, with increased costs of education, universities find it is acceptable for students to pay for tuition by credit card. In certain circumstances, credit cards have become a quick remedy and students are forced to supplement income to pay for education and other necessities and as a result perpetuate the debt issue.

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

With the ever-increasing tuition and ever-tighten federal student aid, the number of students relying on student loan to fund a college education hits a historical peak. According to a survey conducted by an independent and nonprofit organization, two-thirds of college seniors graduated with loans in 2010, and each of them carried an average of $25,250 in debt. (Reed et. al., par. 2). My research question will focus on the profound effect of education debt on American college graduates’ lives, and my thesis statement will concentrate on the view that the education policymakers should improve financial aid programs and minimize the risks and adverse consequences of student loan borrowing.

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.

Student loan forgiveness remains such a vital topic to many individuals because the exorbitant costs of post-secondary education require a majority of students to take on debt in order to simply improve themselves and advance intellectually. Thousands of students are graduating college every year, each with several thousands of dollars in debt. This area is important to research because it will provide insight into the futures of all college students immersed in the deep debt that appears to consistently accompany a quality education. Finances are important to many college students, especially when it is hard to receive scholarships to cover schooling expenses. When going through college, students stress about the amount of debt that they acquire throughout their post-secondary schooling and learning about the potential to have these debts forgiven is monumental.

The decision to attend college for most individuals yield promise of advancement in being able to further one’s learning, and assists with developing a marketable educational portfolio from an institution of reputed academia. However, with the pursuit of obtaining a college degree from a university, there are augmented concerns with student loans and repayment issues. In electing to secure a student loan for college, prospective students or parents should realistically, forecast or measure probable (anticipated) student debt. In particularly, with students aspiring to attend college, several organizations or subsidiaries, and for-profit institutions cash in on unknowledgeable hopefuls contributing to the student loan debt dilemma/crisis (or student debt). The college costs and financial constraints for student borrowing, if ill-prepared will substantially effect students in pre-graduate or even post-grad status. The findings suggest that there is eminence of the possibility of default, with repayment behavior which effects long-term financial outlook. In examining the data on cumulative debt, number and characteristics of borrowers, types of institutions, and repayment dynamics there are unsettles that arise in the gest of student borrowing.

An estimated 20 million Americans attend college each year, and 60% of those students borrow annually to pay for it (qtd. in asa.org, “Student Loan Debt Statistics”). Moreover, citizens continuing to pay off debt after schooling brings the overall number of student-loan-borrowers to about 40 million- with a collective 1 trillion dollars in debt (McCarthy, “10 Fun Facts About the Student Debt Crisis); a fourth of these borrowers owe over $28,000, a tenth owe over $54,000, 3.1% owe more than $100,000, “and 0.45 percent of borrowers, or 167,000 people, owe more than $200,000” (Haughwout, “Grading Student Loans”). While some view this predicament as the result of laziness or carelessness, the bulk of this substantial group are not at fault.

Student debt can socially affect a person’s life for years after graduation. Taking out thousands of dollars in loans causes a negative effect in student’s lives. In reference to Natasha Yurk Quadlin and Daniel Rudel, who has a Ph.D. in sociology and both work at Indiana State University, student loans affect persistence and completion for undergraduates. There is a correlation between how students do in their classes, the amount of time spent on their work, and the amount of time working in a job to pay off debt. Students become so stressed that they do not complete their college courses and enter their path of a new career. (Quadlin, Rudel, 2015). When students do not perform well in their classes, they tend to want to compensate for it. However, they cannot because they have to go to their jobs, to help pay off the thousands of debt that they owe and for their everyday necessities. Due to the amount of stress that they have to handle, it affects their personal health. Katrina Walsemann, in a representative study on student loans and early adult mental health, argues that “We are speculating that part of the reason that these types of loans are so stressful is the fact that you cannot defer them, they follow you for the rest of your life until you pay them off,” (Blake, 2015). It also mentions that the students with higher levels of debt incurred, have had higher levels of depressive symptoms. A college student’s overall health is

With the 2016 presidential election looming in the near future, the subject of student loan debt has become a major issue on the campaign trail. The national amount of student loan debt is 1.08 trillion dollars, with 11.5% of that amount in default or in 90+ day delinquent. To put that in perspective, total consumer debt at the end of 2013 was 11.52 trillion .(Forbes, 2014) According to an in class poll, only 7 students out of 169 students were completely confident in their knowledge of student loans. However, if we had lower tuition and expenses students wouldn’t have to take a loan out in the first place.

Tuition and student debt at colleges and universities in America have been rising far more quickly than inflation for over four decades. This is a trend that will continue without intervention. Student debt drastically affects students’ lives and decisions from getting married, to buying home, or to starting a business. The amount of debt held by students after graduating not only negatively affects the individual, but the economy as well. Loads of economic activity is currently halted by students working to pay off their loans. This is a consequential problem and the increasing number of student debt in America must be addressed.

In the United States today, the number of students graduating college with student loan debt is quite astonishing. In the article titled, “How the $1.2 Trillion College Debt Crisis Is Crippling Students, Parents And The Economy”, we will examine and break down the student loan debt crisis by the numbers. Today, almost two-third’s of students graduating college are graduating with an average of $26,000 in debt. For most students, $26,000 is a lot of money when the average annual income for a first year graduate is only in the mid $40,000 a year range. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, student loan debt has reached a new milestone, crossing the $1.2 trillion mark (Denhart, 2013, Introduction, par. 2). With student loan debt levels

Then, the authors of the paper connect student loans and credit card debt to how financially satisfied a student is with college. The professors explain that student loan debt and credit card debt determine financial satisfaction. Solis and

There is a vast assortment of literature on student loans and debt that particularly emphasize the situations, especially on the young students. The author of “Generation Debt”, Anya Kamenetz did a literature work on the debt problems of students between ages of 18-34 year. This author explains how student loans have been and will continue to negatively affect student’s financial and educational choices because the cost of attending college has been increasing.