The Pros And Cons Of College In College

With the cost of attending even public state schools starting at $20,000 a year, most college graduates will leave with student loan debt. This inevitable debt can already be immense and feel crushing. Credit card debt accumulated in high school is not forgiven by the bank when a student graduates to college. Why would you let your teenager needlessly make their future financial situation worse? Stress surrounding student loan debt has claimed lives. In Oklahoma, two colleges students committed suicide over their inability to pay their debts. They were found dead with their bills beside

Seniors have a tendency of taking their last year of high school for granted. They do not realize that the relaxed classes and fun filled weekends with their best friends will all soon come to a devastating end. They have applied for college, bought miniature refrigerators, and sent in their housing applications, but none of them have really thought about college in the way that they should. When asked about college most high school seniors image the huge parties, attractive people, and freedom; however, college is much more than that and, in a way, much less. College and high school are completely different when it comes to a student’s actual lifestyle, but they have many of the same traits that most high school seniors do not see coming.

According to Lupien, McEwan, Gunnar, and Heim (2009), going off to college involves significant adjustments to their daily routines; sleeping and eating habits, time-management skills, and stress levels will be altered in one way or another. First-year students have to adjust to the new school environment, different social settings, and new schedules, all without the help and guidance from their parents, who have been there for them for eighteen years. Over 30% of college freshman report that they feel overwhelmed (Klainberg, Ewing, & Ryan, 2010), where some students even opt to work as they juggle their class and work schedules. Some students work at a job or study harder than others, but they are all trying to get degrees so maybe one day they will have meaningful and significant lives. It is a constant struggle for everyone who is trying desperately to make him or herself into a success. And every college student wants to be involved in society in a positive manner, allowing contribution of their ideals and values to others.

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.

Although many people are considering student loan debt to be a national crisis, we must understand the reality behind it. Unfortunately not everyone is fortunate enough to make it through college without accumulating debt. In Robin Wilson’s essay, “A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely”, she makes a compelling argument that shows how students get involved with really high debt. She claims, “…the problem among students who go heavily into debt is that they are determined to attend their dream college, no matter what the cost (257).” It is a true statement because students want to turn their dream into a reality. All students can reach their goal of attending a dream college by first choosing a community college in order to decrease the amount of student loans.

The transition from high school to college is a dynamic time in one’s life that parallels the change from childhood to adulthood. Both of these changes are dramatic and, as a result, feelings are difficult to put down into words. A messy combination of emotions fills the heart, surfacing in strange ways. Confident high school seniors go right back to the bottom of the chain when entering college as freshmen. These students start all over, just like entering grade school or high school for the first time. The move up from high school to college signals the switch from dependence to self-sufficiency. From a personal point of view, going through the experience of graduating high school and transferring to a residential college campus at STLCOP, made me realize I was no longer a kid and capable of making my own decisions.

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:

In Life today a college education is no longer an option or privilege, but rather it is a necessity. We are raised to believe that a person needs higher education in order to succeed in life. There is a saying, “if you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” You may ask is college necessary? There are people out in the real world that have never set a foot on a college campus before and they are doing better than others that have their master’s degree. There are many views from both sides that have a good argument.

Student debt is an increasing problem in the American education system. As the times keep changing one thing becomes clearer and clearer: going to college is becoming less and less of a choice for recently graduated high school students. Unfortunately for us students that also means by the time we graduate we will have thousands of dollars in student loans to pay off when we are trying to start fresh in our new jobs. According to a story reported by the Daily News, approximately 70 percent of college students owe around 30,000 dollars by the time they graduate. This number

I owe $40,000, I owe $60,000, I owe $100,000. Isn’t that a lot of money for one person to owe? Graduates have been faced with a serious problem brought about by the constant borrowing of money to gain a reputable education. The debt of loans varies from person to person but the extreme amounts that individuals owe is something the media finds worth gossiping about. Little does the public know, in reality, all the commotion and conversation about these debts are not accountable for the majority of college borrowers. According to A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely by Robin Wilson, she intrigues her targeted college audience by giving examples and providing awareness that most individuals are paying back their students loans within a timely manner with just a few sacrifices. Wilson emphasizes that the real reason individuals have an outstanding debt is because “they are determined to attend their dream college, no matter the cost” (257). There are various reasons why students take out loans and Wilson is determined to clear up the confusion of student debt, she encourages college students to take out loans even with media’s negativity, and lastly she tries to enlighten this targeted college group that debts are repayable with additional sacrifices but in the end, that debt was the best decision they have ever made.

With the heavy push to secure a college degree combined with the rapidly-increasing cost of college, families are facing one of the toughest decisions of their lives: How to pay for college without being buried in student loan debt. As a college student, there’s no doubt you may end up with student debt. Almost all college students will receive some form of student loan during their college career. This year’s college graduates are leaving school with an average of $37,172 in student loans – up from $35,000 last year. Many students and families are searching for solutions to avoid becoming part of the crisis.

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

College students, much like the rest of the population, become informed about what will affect them personally. Student loan debt is something that should concern students entering the realm of attending a university. $1.44 trillion is currently owed by U.S. college students and student loans affect over forty million Americans. These numbers intimidate and scare incoming college students, sometimes keeping them from fulfilling their full potential as a scholar. Education should not be threatened by financial hardships and barriers, rather a student’s integrity and willingness to learn. Student loan debt makes lives of college bound students, college attendees, and college graduates more stressful than it already is, especially for those who have not planned ahead or are not necessarily affluent. These issues cause many to question the worth of a college education.

With an increased demand for skilled labors, many students nowadays find themselves needing to complete some form of higher education at college to ensure their success in the workplace and their future career goals. Although freshmen students often enter college with high expectations and ambitions, many eventually drop out of college. Why does that happen? In an ever-changing and more competitive environment, the demanding expectations on college students now soar at unprecedented heights, creating stressful and unpleasant experiences for many of them as they try to keep up with all the burdens inflicted upon them. In their writings, Dr. Christine B. Whelan, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alan Schwartz, and Nisha Ramachandran explore and illustrate some of the stress-creating challenges that freshmen struggle with today. Even though many factors contribute to the huge list of problems for first-year students, many of the problems that create stress for college freshmen fall under the categories of academic factors, (what adverb to add) teachers, and personal-life conflicts.

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.