The Student Debt Problem

Colin Diederich graduated from the University of Massachusetts last may with a degree in

computer science. He is now an associate software engineer at CA Technologies, but college is not a

distant memory. He paid for college mostly through loans and grants, and though his mom paid off the

interest while he was still in school, he still has to pay off the actual loans. "Instead of putting money

into the economy, I'm paying off an obviously good decision for five years or longer," said Diederich.


Many college graduates are facing the same kind of financial trouble. According to the American

Student Assistance, a nonprofit that tries to help students and alumni manage and repay their college

loans, nearly 20 million American attend college every year, and of those 20 million, 60 percent borrow
annually to help cover costs. In March 2012, the amount of student loan debt first exceeded $1 trillion

according to fastweb.com, a website that posts daily about the scholarships that are out there. Since

then it has risen to $1.1 trillion. Student debt is the second highest type of consumer debt, behind only

mortgages. It can take anywhere between 10 and 25 years to pay off student loans and payments start

coming in six months after you stop taking classes.


 Though some students have help from parents and guardians, not all do. Shelby Ashline, a

sophomore as UMass, has no help from parents, though she says she isn't paying for college by

herself. "I can't say I'm paying for college myself because I depend on a lot of people, my boyfriend

Roland especially. He works full time while I'm in school and this year, after all the loans and grants

and scholarships I could possibly get, we paid $1150," said Ashline. Her boyfriend, Roland Brock, is a

construction worker.


The beginning of this semester was especially hard for Ashline. She had applied for the

Massachusetts Native American tuition waiver last semester because she has Abenaki blood. One of the
requirements is that she be a resident of Massachusetts, so she sent them a copy of her lease for her

apartment, and she was accepted. This semester, UMass told her that she was not actually eligible

because she had not lived in Massachusetts for over a year which is the school's standards for being a

resident.


"So not only would I lose the waiver for this semester, but I would have to make it up because

they were going to take away from last semester. It was news to me that they can take away money

from previous semesters. I really wonder where the money went after that," said Ashline.


Scholarships can be hard to come by as well. According to an article published by Lynn

O'Shaughnessy on the CBS website, only .3 percent of full-time college students enrolled at a four-year
college receive enough grants and scholarships to cover the full cost of college. A study called the

National Postsecondary Student Aid Study surveyed more than 80,000 undergraduates and found that in

2003-2004 school year only 9.6 percent of undergraduate students at four-year colleges received private

scholarships worth $2,184 on average. And though good grades matter, only 19 percent of high schools
students with an average of 3.5 to 4.0 get awards.


Matt Mourovic is an assistant director at Financial Aid Services. He says that is hard for students

to get scholarships because "there are a lot more applicants than there is money." Though there is only

a small amount of money to go around, not a lot of people are taking advantage of the resources around

them. Scholarships can be found through the academic departments and through local groups from a

student's home town. At UMass, the Commonwealth Honor's College also offers scholarships for non-
honors students. It is also important to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or as it is

more commonly known, FAFSA. And in case all of that seems overwhelming, there are people like

Mourovic to help you, though he says on average, the office only sees about 20 to 30 percent of the

student body. His advice, "Apply earlier than you think."


The question, though, is whether college is worth it. With all this money that has to be paid and

the amount of debt students have to pay off later, is it worth it? There are some people who can't go to

the school of their choice or the most prestigious in their field because of money. "I feel bad for the

many people who have their dreams and in a way their chances ruined because they can't afford to go

to college. Education should be a right, not a privilege," said Ashline.


Ryan Wells, an assistant professor in the Higher Education Concentration, said "For any one

individual, is it worth it? Maybe? Overall, on average, it is." On average, according to Mourovic, poeple

who hold a Bachelors Degree make about $45,000 with a median annual of $17,500 higher than a

person without any type of degree. Wells also brought up the point that minimum wage is low and hard

to live on. College allows people to find jobs that are not in minimum wage.


"It is very alarming when you hear the dollar amount people are coming out with," said Wells.

Though the school gets money from the state, if it is a state school, it is usually the first thing to get cut

because it has other sources of revenue. So to compensate in the cut of state funds, schools will rise the

cost of school. This can be frustrating when in places like Sweden and Norway, college is free. But look

at the culture.


Their taxes are some of the highest in the world and they believe that sending people to college

is a public good. In America, the individual is the key, this country is very much an individualistic

community in which someone should go to college for their own personal gain, said Wells. However,

these countries are shifting over to the American model of college.


But why is tuition high? The sticker price that people get when applying is rarely the amount

people pay after everything is said and done. The net price, or the price a student actually pays, is a lot

lower. The money that students pay go to many things.


"College is expensive because you are paying for what you get," said Mourovic. This includes the

maintenance of the buildings, salaries for various people, and amenities. College is a business, said

Mourovic. Also many schools, UMass especially, are having construction done, what Wells calls an "arms

race" of buildings that can lead to greater prestige. Plus, as Mourovic put it, people are willing to pay for

it. Students and parents, despite complaining about the cost, are still saving up to put students through

college in any way possible.


Is the price of college going to go down? Is there going to be less debt for students in the future?

It is starting to be recognized as a big problem among graduates. Wells said that having student loans to

pay off can lead people to put off other big milestones in life, buying a house, starting a family, and

eventually retirement. However, Wells said, "I don't' see a dramatic culture shift that will change this,

not to sound pessimistic."



by Lauren McArdle