Debt: Is it worth it? Many high school students are beginning their senior year and have already started to stress about how they will pay for their higher education. Although many students will have scholarships and financial aid, a lot more will struggle to pay for schooling and will have to take out multiple student loans. Many people wonder if higher education is worth the debt the country and the students are in and it is, however, there are alternatives. Thinking about the cost of colleges in The United States stresses out many of students every single day.
A college cost continues to rise every single year and with that comes great struggles and stress. The average cost of college tuition has raised a whole eighty-two percent since the year 1980 (Shabazz 36).
College prices are rising eight percent each year (Tuition Inflation).
With college prices constantly raising more students will have to find ways to pay for their higher education. The cost of resident college tuition for a thirty hour college semester at Oklahoma University is approximately $9,000. 00 (Oklahoma Estimated Cost for Resident Thirty Hours).
This price, although very high, still does not include room and board or books. The estimated cost for tuition, room and board and books is approximately $18,500. 00 (Oklahoma Estimated Cost for Resident Thirty Hours).
For most students these prices are outrageously high and they cannot even fathom ever paying that much. Luckily, colleges all over the U. S, including Oklahoma University, give out scholarships and financial aid. However, not all students will qualify and those students will have to take out student loans. Today, there are about 37 million student loan borrowers with outstanding student loan debt.
The average undergraduate can take out anywhere between $1,000. 00 to $5,500. 00 in loans per year (Borrowing Limits at a Glance).
This is amount of money has potential to add up to $22,000. 00 after their college graduation. The good news is many students will find good enough jobs to pay off their student loan debt within good timing. The ugly truth is that forty-eight percent of twenty-five through thirty-four year olds say that they are in debt because they are unemployed or under employed.
This information makes an American wonder why so many students are not finding sufficient jobs. The fact is in 2010 alone there were more than 6. 3 million Americans that had been out of work for over half a year (Trumball).
The idea of student loan debt is definitely one of the most frightening things for seniors who want to be successful despite America ’s dreadful economy and unemployment rate and most continue to believe there is no other way. However, there are many alternatives to be successful that do not include thousands of dollars in debt.
Most students will go there four years of high school thinking that their ultimate goal is to get into college for their higher education. None of these students realize that there are other ways to make a living in the world without getting a college education. According to Georgetown Center almost 30 million jobs in the U. S do not require a bachelor’s degree (Snider).
However, these jobs do require some type of affordable higher education. These jobs require professional certification to enhance a person’s values to employers (Snider).
Other alternatives include associates degrees and tech centers which are also extremely affordable.
The students are not the only ones who have to think about the consequences of student loans. The country also has to think about the student loan debt crisis and come up with a better way to give people their education rather than going hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Many people do not realize the amount of distress the student loan crisis is putting on our country and its economy. Student’s loans have twirled to 1 trillion dollars in the United States and have definitely become a crisis (Walia).
There are ways to help prevent the amount of debt the country is facing.
According to Walia, a good way to help with student loan debt is to basically evaluate a person’s major and if they will complete their college courses with impeccable grades and be able to easily pay off their loans with their career choice. This is by far a great idea to help with this crisis. This idea will prevent the country from staying in debt because of people who took out loans knowing they will not have the means to pay them off. Walia compared this to the idea of having to get approved for a mortgage. For people who have never attempted to buy a new home can compare this to buying a new car and getting a credit check.
According to The New York Times student loan debt has almost tripled between 2004 and 2012 (Student Debt and the Economy).
The federal government has also come up with a way to help students with their student loan debt which will ultimately help the country with its student loan debt. The Federal Income Based Repayment Program helps students with their debt by minimizing their student loan payments each month (Student Debt and the Economy).
By minimizing student loan debt payments it enables people to actually begin their payments without struggling to maintain other necessities.
Although minimizing student loan debt payments will make paying off the debt take longer it will still help because at least the debt is being paid no matter how long it takes. Although there are many people who cannot pay off their student loans about forty-seven percent of people can (FindLaw Survey: One in Six Americans Still Paying off Student Loans).
This information means that over half the people who have taken out student loans are in debt. However, an individual must remember to account for the amount of people who are more than likely ignoring to pay back their loans.
When a person does not attempt to pay back their student loans in the low payments that the government or private lenders will offer either of the two can and will begin to garnish a person’s wages (What Happens if Student Loan Payments are ignored).
Now if an individual just assumes that a mere three percent of people is ignoring their student loans and that is why they are still in debt then we can logically say that sometimes it is that persons fault that they are still in debt, not necessarily the student loans fault themselves. Above is said that in 2010 there were more than 6. 3 million Americans that had been out of work for over half a year (Trumball).
This information is clearly accurate; however in 2010 there were approximately 307,745,538 people in the United States (Rosenberg ).
Assuming that 100 million of those people are under the age of 16 and are not able to get a job we can say that 207,745,538 people are able to get a job. All of this information states that out of 207,745,438 people in the U. S only 6. 3 million were out of work. Why are so many people still facing student loan debt if 201,745,438 people are working?
The reasonable explanation is that those people are not taking their student loan debt seriously. Those people are not buckling down and getting that debt taken care of. Student loans are possible to pay off if a person tries hard enough. If an individual will get their priorities straight and get the small payments taken care of then no one will garnish their wages and they will obviously stay out of debt. Student loans are one of the most underrated crisis’s’ in the United States. The amount of stress student loans cause for high school students, college students, and graduates is honestly unbelievable. However, this stress can be avoided by buckling down and getting things done. People need to realize that student loans are not the problem. Irresponsible people are the problem. It is always better to stray away from debt all together but if a person absolutely needs the money they should not worry about causing themselves debt for the rest of their lives. Finding jobs is not impossible, repaying debts is not impossible, and living a happy fulfilling life stress and debt free life is definitely not impossible.