By snoadmin
In wake of our higher education’s economic state, it’s clear students are suffering. School is becoming so much of a stressor that it’s beginning to be hard to focus our attention on how big of a benefit it actually is.
On top of that, the decreasing likelihood of being able to find a job after graduation is an intimidating thought — especially for students worrying about having to pay off student loans.
According to a Dec. 5 Daily 49er article, students have been taking out more loans than anticipated, evoking worries regarding how they will pay it off post graduation.
“Hopefully next year I will be in a better position financially,” senior psychology major Venus Munguia said. “I’m not trying to make little payments.”
Director of financial aid at CSULB, Nick Valdivia, noted the increase of students borrowing, but reassured it isn’t a bad thing.
“Sometimes it is the smart move to borrow,” Valdivia said. “Borrow now, pay later. You get better grades and get out of school faster.”
Valdivia may be right, but if we are already in a financial shortfall, and jobs post-graduation are scarce, what happens is less and less student loans are being paid off? Where are we getting this “imaginary” money from — especially now that more loans are being taken out?
According to a Wall Street Journal blog, “Americans owe some $826.5 billion in revolving credit, according to June 2010 figures from the Federal Reserve…Student loans outstanding today — both federal and private — total some $829.785 billion.”
How can we continue to give out this money, knowing that the debt is becoming more and more severe?
What’s scary is the thought that this could cause a domino effect. We allow more students to take out financial loans — coming much from our federal government, which is just over $15 trillion in debt — and it seems now that we should be a little shaky about whether the money will be paid back or not.
One solution to the student loan crisis could be to lower the debt level for students with loans. However, what to do after that is where it gets tricky.
It’s a sensitive issue, like many others. Loans are scary to give when increasing amounts of people need them, and when increasing amounts of people will have difficulty paying them off. But, at the same time, we’d be making education out of reach for those who rely on student loans, putting our future at a disadvantage.
Despite the increase in students borrowing money, CSULB should be acknowledged for its students borrowing about $10,000 less than students nationwide. That’s very reassuring for CSULB.
However, we don’t want to dig a deeper hole for our school, or for our federal budget. Until the student loan crisis is addressed on a federal level, all we students can do to help is to really try in our classes so we can get out of here faster, and fewer loans can be taken out. After that, finding a job is crucial, and if you look hard and long enough, a job can and will be found. It just takes some time, effort and patience.
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