I was talking to my sister tonight and we were discussing debt and whatnot. I don't know how we got on topic but it got me thinking about student debt. My husband and I are currently drowning in student debt. I don't know how we stay afloat exactly but we are managing so far. I remember reading an article on Yahoo! not too long ago that followed several people who had student debt. It asked them how much their debt was, whether they were working in the industry that they studied in and how much money they currently made in their jobs. I remember reading that while my own husband was in school racking up $20,000 a year in student loan debt. I also remember thinking then about how in the hell we were going to manage to pay off his loans while saving for our own children to go to college. There is no way we will be able to pay off his loans before my children go to college, barring winning the lottery of course. I want to try to pay for my children's education because I don't want them to be trying to start a family with an unfathomable amount of debt the way I am. I want them to get out of college and start thinking about what house they want and where they want to live, even if they want to travel the world for 10 years before they come back and settle in. I want them to be carefree! Isn't that the way it should be? Anyway, back to the Yahoo! article. Those people who got out of college with Masters degrees and Bachelor's degrees were not doing well. Not one single person. They were all trying to pay back between $30,000 and $120,000 in student debt while making very little money as entry level employees with an entry level salary or not even being able to work in their chosen fields. Of course the economic disaster that our country is in hasn't helped one bit, starting salaries are at all time lows, including ours. Why have tuition rates skyrocketed past normal inflation levels? We all know the value of an education, but is it really worth it to be this stressed out and wondering if we will ever be able to provide our children with the same education that we have? I can't answer that question for everyone but I do know that my husband is happy knowing that he has a Bachelor's, no matter what he had to do to get it. He worked his butt off and I worked hard too, making ends meet while he attended 15-20+ credit hour semesters to get his schooling done as quickly as possible. I am not writing this blog to gripe about our situation. I hope it doesn't seem that way. We are not the exception these days though. Something needs to be done about the cost of education. PELL grants have been cut back and companies are not giving scholarships as freely as they once were, tuition reimbursement is a thing of the past. To add to this private loan companies that offer student loans can charge whatever interest rates they want. While the federally guaranteed loans have regulated interest rates. Our own interest rates go from a very good 6% all the way to 15%. We didn't choose the loan with the 15% interest rate. The school chose it for us. This is happening to students all over our country. Some students have no idea what they are getting themselves into. They couldn't understand it because of the mounds of paperwork they have to sign tells them very little about the types of loans the school can apply for without your consent. They get one initial consent and the rest they can do without any further consultation with you. What can be done about it? We are putting young people at a disadvantage before they even leave the ground. If our country is ever going to pull itself out of this economic situation we have to do something about this. People just want to provide for their families. The 1% say, "Get a real job." and yet college cost are so out of control right now that nobody can afford to get a real job. You have to have a Bachelor's degree just to get anywhere and the average cost of getting one is around $60,000 for a 4 year program. It's almost as much as buying a home. Combine that with interest and it could cripple a young couple trying to buy a home and start a family. Something real has to be done about the cost of college and the interest rates on student loans and soon or only the rich will be able to afford college and wealth inequality will only get worse.
Carissa :)
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