Student+debt

Garrett Rawlings
Wiki post 3 ====I watched a Youtube video about college student debt. They talked about how it is getting harder and harder to get a student loan and how much the rates for loans have gone up. They interview a couple of college students and a financial aid advisor at the school. Since the poor availability of private loans, bad economic conditions, and tutition fees constantly going up the debt that graduates facing now is a lot more than it was in the past. I was pretty shocked at some of the statistics that they showed and talked about in the video. According to the video it said that nearly two-thirds of all college graduates are going to be in debt and most will take nearly ten years to pay off. These circumstances make graduation more of a loss than an accomplishment. Once you get your degree the only thing to look forward to is a job and paying off the enormous debt you owe for getting a higher education. I feel that California should have a bigger concern for higher education and should start changing the way loans are given out and help reduce the rates. I do agree with the video when it talks about how loans depend mainly on the person's lifestyle. Some people have a tendency to spend a lot more money than others there for their debt will be a lot more. Some high school graduates are forced to join the military in order to get a higher education. That shows just how bad education has gotten in the past few years. Students who were interviewed was asking why their education had to be cut because of mistakes politicians made. This was a very good point and is why I feel we need some reform to our budget plans and priorities.====

====Use this page to post links and research logs related to student debt. How can debt interfere with learning? Does debt lead us to make decisions about our education that we might not have if we were debt-free? Do you work more than you go to school? How do student loans work? What do politicians have to say about the growing crisis of student.====

Theresa Quiroz. RL1

Works Cited Burdman, Pamela. “The Student Debt Dilemma: Debt Aversion as a Barrier to College Access.” UC Berkeley: Center for Studies in Higher Education (2005). EScholarship University of California. Web. 05 March 2010.

This article further explores the topic of student debt and its effect on the students. The author Pamela Burdman addresses student debt as a dilemma and claims that it has become a huge barrier for students to overcome. Burdman believes that debt aversion has become a main reason for students to drop out of college or not attend at all. The fear of debt has become so over whelming for most students that they will do all that they can to avoid taking out loans. The article discusses the connection with this attitude and the importance placed on a college education. The students more likely to avoid loans are the low income students that don’t feel like they have their family’s financial support if they needed it. Those coming from low income homes may feel like debt is not worth the education because they have not experienced the rewards of a career obtained with a college degree. For many first generation students, the thought of graduating and being so far in debt can completely scare them from ever taking out loans. The author discusses the government’s approach to financial aid by grants and loans. Burdman feels that loans are not an efficient way of providing aid for students because in some cases students are unwilling to take out loans to pay for school. They are more willing to drop out or transfer to a community college. The author supports her claims by including statistics from Dan Mann, the former financial aid director at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Mann states that there is definitely a trend of the students that refuse to take our loans; these groups include Hispanics, African Americans, and other low income students. She uses these claims to support her topic that student debt is a dilemma that stops many minorities and low income families from receiving the education that they need and deserve. I have chosen this article for my research log because I felt that it fit well with my topic of student debt. I feel like this is a different take on student debt that I hadn’t really explored before. Instead of just looking at the horror of debt and the problems it can cause in the future, it is worth examining the problems created just from the idea of having to take out loans for school. Many students refuse to take out loans and are more likely to drop out or transfer to a community college. I have always been afraid to take out loans but I would never drop out instead of taking out loans. The thought of graduating and being in debt already causes many students to think twice about the real benefit of a college education. These trends are seen more in minorities, low income families, and first generation students. Without having firsthand experience of the benefits of an education, it might be a little more challenging to throw yourself under the burden of debt. After having read this article I feel like I have a better understanding of student debt and the bigger impact it has on students. I feel like from this point I have researched student debt as an obstacle for some students, now I want to see the benefits of education for minorities and low income students. I feel like exploring this topic further will help me develop my research narrative theme of the impact of debt on students and society’s view on the importance on a college education.

Facts About Student Loans (Sept.14,2007) Andrew Davis

This informational online article opens up with many numerical statistics regarding student loan expenditures, as a whole, in America for the year 2007. Following this is the first section titled "1. More Students Are Taking out Bigger Loans". Providing statistical data, the author goes on to point out how the monetary value of student loans per student has drastically increased within the last decade. Without any further explanation, the author jumps into addressing the increase in popularity of students attaining financial aid from Private Loans and the downside students do not notice. This leads us into the next section in which the author explains how unrealistic repayment expectations are for all loans. But before closing off with what the so called "Government" plans to do, students are reminded, yet again, how unprepared students are for the debt that lies ahead. Resources are listed on this page as well as other related articles.

Wikipost #2 By: Shannon Cummings [] This link is a video about budget cuts, furloughs, and fees at California State University Fullerton. This is one of many protests that Fullerton has had. Within ten minutes of the protest, many people started gathering including, staff, students, and faculty members with one main cause, and that was to stop the budget cuts, and furloughs. Many of the protesters were yelling in support of giving more money to the education system. I think that this is useful for us because it seems as though many other campus’ have had protests and have done sit ins, but since I have been at Chico, I have not seen any protests. I just wonder why are other schools protesting and not Chico? I think that everyone in the college system including faculty and staff and hopefully our government will be affected by this protest. Many people were out there for hours and some wanted to stay out all day. Those who weren’t in the protest felt proud of their fellow students who were making a difference in the California State University, UC, and City College systems. Many people spoke about how they disagreed with the budgets, furloughs, and commented on how all of the cuts have affected their family. All of the protesters were meeting that night as well to prepare for another protest that was going to be held in about a month. There was also another event on that campus that was against the furloughs, and they were holding a fashion show in support of the students and faculty.

Kyle Nelson [] In the article ‘No One Should Go Broke Because They Chose to Go to College’ by Jacques Steinberg, the author touches on the State of the Union address by President Obama. President Obama addressed part of his speech to the Colleges and Universities around the U.S. and told them they need to cut spending and debt will be forgiven if someone gets a job in public service. He also “ pressed Congress to pass a bill, fiercely opposed by banks and other lenders, that would end federal subsidies to private banks for student loans and divert billions of dollars in profits to need-based scholarships like the Pell grant.” What I would like to see is the different grants like the Pell become eligible to families that are middle class, that are stuck and need the help getting their children through college. This article could be very helpful to compare to see if these statements from President Obama were implemented at the national and state level. So far it doesn’t seem like the schools are cutting spending, instead raising tuition and fees every semester, laying off instructors, and having campus wide and class furlough days. With tones of construction going on I’m having a hard time on figuring out if these statements are being implemented at our school. I think this article is a great choice to collect different data on what has been said and promised and then find to see if these promises have been made or are just still sitting there waiting for someone to fulfill it.

wikipost #1 sixto ramirez []

the speaker in this video talks about the G.I bill and how it affected public education. he also talks about the shift from grants to loans for students. i find this useful because it shows how we got to where we are today in the school system. Wiki 1 Leng Thao

[] Higher Education, why are students paying more and getting less than what they are paying for? Why are federal prisons being funded more than the growing population of students that needs a better education for the future? Why are students not getting what they ask for? Statistics shows that every year Students with loans are graduating college with a debt of 20,000 and over also statistics shows that this increase will further continue. Also statistics also shows that college graduates in the U.S. earn nearly twice as much as workers with just a high school diploma. If students are going to college for a degree and are going to be in major debt at the end of the road just to find a job that will help them to pay off that debt than the question is, what is the point of going to college? In this video, it mentions that traditionally nearly 75% of student’s financial aid has come from the government and now the government only provides around 40% and its further more going to decrease. Furthermore, in the video it mentions that 3-4 full time students are doubling their work hours from an average of 20 to 40 hours a week to pay for college, having to work more than what a student use to work. As stated by Heather Boushey from the Center for Economic and Research mentions that each year over 200,000 qualified high school graduates forgo higher education due to costs alone and that those who are going to college today are paying much more than what their parents once did. In my personal opinion, if students were to stand up for higher education than I believe that we as students will make a difference in the pursuit of an fair affordable education for everyone today, tomorrow, and the future.

[] Katie Corey In this you-tube video, it discusses the effects on students due to student loans. It shows the after effect of borrowing student loans, and how the interest on loans goes up increasingly every year. I feel like this video really shows the importance of having knowledge about your student loans, who the lender is, how much they are, how much the interest rate is, and how you expect to pay them off after the six month grace period. One of the main points that the author of this video makes is that “corporate irresponsibility is far more to blame then individual irresponsibility”. This meaning that it’s not the students fault for the extremely high prices of education, and that they need to take out the loans in the first place. The video also mentions that about 60 percent of students in 2008 took out student loans, and with the rising cost of education, books, and housing it would not be surprising that the percentage has increased since then. The creator of this video makes these points by having documentaries with students in school, and students who have already graduated. This video could be useful to other people looking to change the shape of higher education because it is a realization to society on the affects of student loans, and how financially difficult it is for college students nowadays to afford an education.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppZJ9vhWypc

In this video titled, "The High Cost of Higher Education: Is it worth it?” graduating students are asked to decide it the cost they paid for school worth it or not. Some of the graduates in this video say that college is not worth it. The amount of time that it will take for them to pay back the loans will be years. Some students said it was absolutely worth it; one guy went on to say that he was even going to graduate school. He said that he had been through some experiences that he would not have ever been given if he weren’t in college. Other students seemed to be worried about how they were going to pay back the money, but decided not to worry about it on the day of graduation. This video relates to many of the articles we read in class, but specifically The Pedagogy of Debt because it discusses just how much college is. One thing that does not get talked about in this video is where the money goes toward and we have discussed this issue in class. College has become very expensive, and like these students more and more people may begin to believe that it is not worth it. My hope is that college can return to an affordable price and stay a priority for recent high school graduates. -Amber Sloan

Scott Pense-wiki [] This piece that I got from online is about the rising costs and cutbacks that college students are facing. It brings up the usual topic about the American Dream and how everyone strives to achieve it to live a great and prosperous life. The biggest obstacle however is the rising costs of tuition that has caused many students high amounts of frustration. The article mentions that over 45 percent of 4-year college students are working more than 20 hours a week. This number is even higher for community college students who average 60 percent of students working over 20 hours per week. One extreme example that was mention was about a girl who is a full time student, working part-time, but has at least 37 hours of work per week. With this drastic schedule she said she has no time to do class readings and has to cram to finish homework. She wanted to reduce her hours, but her dad’s company isn’t doing too well so she is forced to pay most of her own way. The level that costs for college have gotten to are outrageous, people deserve to go to college, so that they can better their lives and make it easier for them to get a better job to survive in these tough times. College costs have gone up 400 percent in the last 25 years. This increase is very unfortunate and hard for the 62 percent of college students who pay for their education on their own to handle. Many students have just been forced to drop out and try and get a job, yet 19 percent of the youth is unemployed.

Daniel Nilson [] Every year it gets harder and harder for student, such as myself, to pay “tuition” in order to go to school without having to get some sort of loan to help them pay for it. Fifty years ago when the “Master Plan” was in effect it was much easier for students to pay their own way through school because it was practically free, but today students are barely able to afford college, even with the help of their parents. The article states that 65.6% of all of all students that graduate with a Bachelors degree owe, on average, $ 24, 651. Even with the loans that students are able to get, if any, it is still hard for most of them to pay for college with just that. Students are having to get jobs, some students have two jobs, just to make it through the semester. Students are also taking less classes to get a job which means more years of school and more debt that they are going to have to pay off. Furlough days and budget cuts for teachers doesn’t help students either because now they are forced to pay thirty three percent more in college fees just to get less time for schooling. In my opinion, student debt is one of the more important issues dealing with higher education and I believe that in order to change the shape of higher education for the better, the government needs to find a way to lower the fees for college and eliminate student debt.
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Kevin Stauffer [] In this article Liz Pulliman Weston talks about how students in today’s world are facing “good debt”. A student loan is usually classified as a “good” debt but today it is taking students much longer to pay off their loans and get out of debt. She goes on to talk about how four-year loans can last a lifetime. At 8% interest each $1,000 you barrow will cost you $12 a month. This interest can go up over time if you can’t afford payments for a few months and if you don’t get a job paying $26,000-$28,000 out of college, then its suggested that don’t barrow more then $18,000 over you college career. If you get a job paying less and you barrow $18,000, then you could be in debt until mid life. According to the Project on Student Debt the average student debt by the time you graduate college is $21,000. If you go on to have a family and you have this much debt it is possible that when your kids enter college you will still be paying off you own college debt and on top of that you have a kid of your own that is going to need money to make it through school.

Lillian Kotlarz [] I found this movie on youtube when by typing in Cost of Higher Education. In the beginning of this movie it shows pictures of students sleeping, eating and partying. After those pictures show students talking into the camera about how much each of them owe. With each student a cha ching sound shows how much they owe. The amount ranges anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 dollars After the amount shows up on the screen they talk about the amount that they owe and their reactions also vary, but one thing is similar between all of the students... they all laugh. A lot of the students said that it wasnt worth it that they had "fun" but that the amount that they owe isnt worth what they got out of college, or at least its what the were making it seem. Then though some of the students did think that they were a good investment.One thing that I did notice between all of the students though is that they did laugh about how much they owe, kind of like they couldnt believe that they owed thousands of dollars, it was unrealistic to them because it was such a large amount. None of the students though in this clip knew what they were going to do career wise, some were going to stay in school and but others didnt have the slightest idea what they wanted to do even though they went to college graduated and are in debt and have to pay back all of the loans they took out. ||