Student Loans Analysis

Before we can go any further, we need to first define what exactly a student loan is, and what student loans can entail. A student loan is defined as “A type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees”. Student loans are marvelous and a supportive tool for college students, but people don't realize that everything they borrow needs to be paid back with interest. Five years ago in 2012 “71%” of students graduating four-year colleges had student loans and the average indebtedness of a college graduate was “$29,400”. If you compare that to 1993 the average indebtedness of a college graduate was “$9,450” (Average Student Loan Debt, 1993-2012). In only 19 years there was a $19,950 dollar difference in the averages. Those numbers do not include the interest that the student will have to pay back over time. All of those factors are just a small part of what makes up student debt but it is good to have a general

College tuition has been an increasingly intense topic of discussion over the years. The costs of higher education have been debated by many people, and it has been discussed as to whether costs are becoming too high for students to afford. College has become more and more popular, and now as many as 20 million students attend universities reported by The National Center for Education Statistics (1). The value of a college degree is immense, but college tuition is becoming too expensive for students to afford, and furthering the problem are students’ lack of knowledge on how to pay and earn money towards their college degree.

However, when looking at the nation and middle class students as a whole, not everyone is eligible for these. Just a year of average grades can disqualify one from thousands of dollars in merit scholarships. According to College Raptor, an average of $5,750 was awarded to undergraduates as gift aid in the 2012-2013 school year (Wignall). With an annual estimated cost of $24,610 for a public in-state university, this gift aid, along with the $4,000 from grants and other sources, leaves approximately $14,000 in college debt each year — $56,000 after 4 years (“Average Estimated Undergraduate Budget”). These numbers speak for

Since 1974, tuition has been on the rise and has reached new heights. One reason why tuition is increasing is because of “the state governments’ unwillingness or inability to raise per-student financing” (Davidson). The government is spending less on college and moving those funds into other categories, such as the military. Furthermore, colleges are spending less on each student than they did during pre-recession (Fox). Even after the recession, the government is continuously cutting more and more from education funds. As the government cuts more from education funds, tuition cost will steadily increase to compensate the loss. Tuition increased from 1994 to 2015 is depicted in the graph on the next page. Drawing a conclusion from the graph, it is possible that if this trend continues, public colleges will approximately reach the same price as private colleges one day. The amount of financial aid given is unable to meet the needs of lower income students,

“College Prices Soar Again!” “Budget Cuts Cause Even Higher Tuition!” “Higher Education Now Even Less Affordable” These are all statements that have been seen all over the media: newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. (3 SV: SV) Rising college tuition in America has been a problem for years. Many students drop out after a single year due to the pricey costs of tuition. The rapid rise can be attributed to many aspects of the economy, not just a single source. There have also been some propositions of how costs could be lowered, but these have yet to be seen. The United States has gone into a tuition crisis.

Today college tuition prices are rising. Paying for college can often be a stressful responsibility. A college education is very important for many students, but when stressing on how to pay for college gets in the way, it becomes more of a burden. Kim Clark effectively states the rising prices of college tuition in her article, “The Surprising Causes of Those College Tuition Hikes.” Clark states that the cost of attending a public university, even after subtracting out aid and inflation, rose more than fifteen percent in the last

Student Loans: What They Are, What The Evolution of Student Loans Has Looked Like, and What The Current Policy Is.

According to Forbes, the U.S. has 44.2 million borrowers that still have to repay their student loan debts, this is about 8% of the population of the country. Borrowers, as of 2017, have accumulated 1.31 trillion dollars in student loan debt. Student loan debt has increased by 31 billion dollars since 2016. On average, borrowers have $4,920 of student loans debt, and in Florida, the debt per person is $4,480. For some borrowers, this debt puts them into poverty. Student loans are a major problem for the students, but may become a problem for the taxpayers in the U.S. because of recent bill proposals.

The student loan debt total was about nine hundred and two million dollars to one trillion dollars in the United States in 2012; the federal student loan debt made up about eight hundred and sixty-four billion dollars of the total debt (Driscoll and Clapp). Many people in the United States that cannot afford college tuition and additional fees take student loans and/or federal grants. Student loans are different from federal grants in that the loans have to be paid back with interest, while federal grants do not have to be paid back. A federal grant is also known as financial aid. Students with lower income are less likely to attend college because of student loan debts. The government does provide some help, however, there are limits

With student loan debt on the rise and more borrowers struggling to make their monthly payments, many people want President Trump to take the reins and keep some of his campaign promises. In October of 2016, then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump proposed new student loan guidelines that would cap total repayments at around 12.5 percent of a student loan holder’s income for 15 years from their graduation date. After 15 years, the proposal would forgive the rest of the student loan holder’s debt.

As Young teenagers become adults and start College, one issue that doesn’t seem as a big deal at the moment for many students are student loans. Young college students who don’t have the money, don’t have enough scholarship money, or family who doesn’t have the money to pay, will apply for student loans each year. They amount the student receives can vary depending on the college and what the student has achieved academically. Though interest rates are low with subsidized being 4.29% and unsubsidized being 5.84% ("Federal Student Aid" Interest rates and Fees), student loans still have a huge effect on college students once they graduate. One college graduate’s story helps explain the struggles for most students:

If a student happens to not qualify for other financial aid, the Stafford Subsidized Loan is for any student regardless of need. In the year 1989, a lower income college senior graduated with an average of $7,629.00 in loans. Last measured in 1999, a college student with the same financial situation graduated with an average debt of $12,888.00. The average aid given to needy students in 2986 went down from ninety eight percent of tuition paid to fifty­seven percent in

College rising tuition is currently the hottest topics debated by political and social interest’s groups who pretty much understand that if this is not fixed soon, it will have long damaging effects on our convalescent economy. It is important to be reminded that college education play a tremendous multiplier role in our economy that holds more the 50% of college graduates. (College Has Been Oversold by Alex Tabarrok.)

The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 was introduced in the House of Representatives on March 8, 2012, by Hansen Clarke (D - MI) with well-known Presidential support for student loan debt relief, 24 Democratic co-sponsors, and zero Republican co-sponsors. The bill was introduced to increase purchasing power to strengthen the economic recovery from the Financial Crisis of 2008, restore fairness in financing higher education in the United States through student loan forgiveness, set caps on interest rates at 3.4% on Federal student loans, provide refinancing opportunities for private borrowers, and achieve other purposes (112 Bill Profile H.R. 4170 (2011-2012), 2012). The bill was referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the House Committee on Armed Services.

Since the mid 1980s, student fees have increased at a rate approximately double the rate of inflation (Hauptman, 1997, p. 24). A 1996 study by the General Accounting Office indicates a 234 percent increase in tuition and fees at public institutions and a 220 percent increase at private universities since 1980. This compares to an 80 percent increase in inflation since 1980 (Barry, 1998, p. 39). Families today spend a considerably larger percentage of their family income on college than families two decades ago. In 1979, the average four-year tuition at a public college consumed approximately 36 percent of a family’s annual income, while a private university consumed 84 percent. By 1994, the percentages jumped to 60 and 156 respectively (Reiland, 1996, p. 36). In addition to increases in tuition, an attitude shift in regard to paying for college contributes to the problem of financing higher education. Parents today are more likely to budget college expenses out of their annual income instead of from savings, and students are expected to contribute more to financing their own education than in the past (Kiesler, 1994, p. 67).