A college education has lost its value.
A college education has lost its value.
When students attend college, they are left in severe debt after they graduate. This can sometimes be discouraging to students. This also makes you wonder, “What is the value of going to college or attending a postsecondary institution?” Has going to college become more expensive than what it’s worth?
In my role as a financial aid counselor, I have gained much insight regarding tuition costs as well as financial aid amounts and options. In my years of being a financial counselor I have observed that many students rely on loans to help finance their educations. There are advantages and disadvantages for taking out educational to pay for college. The main advantage is that these loans can help students pay for their education when they may be unable to pay out of pocket or if other types of financial aid are not enough to cover their tuition. However, it’s important to understand that by accepting a loan, the student will be entering into a contractual agreement to repay all money borrowed plus any applicable interest that may accrue. This is a fact that sometimes many students may overlook. The student will never only pay back the same amount they borrowed because the interest makes the payback amount higher.
There are approximately 37 million student loan borrowers with outstanding student loans today. (Source: Federal Reserve Board of New York). There is roughly somewhere between $902 billion and $1 trillion in total outstanding student loan debt in the United States today. According to a report by the Institute for, College Access and Success, a non-profit research and advocacy group, “ College students who graduated with bachelor's degrees in 2011 left school with the largest average student debt load in history — $26,600, a 5 percent increase from $25,250 in 2010”. This statistic shows how student debt has increased in just one year. In 2014/2015 the interest rate on undergraduate Stafford loans is climbing to 4.66
When students attend college, they are left in severe debt after they graduate. This can sometimes be discouraging to students. This also makes you wonder, “What is the value of going to college or attending a postsecondary institution?” Has going to college become more expensive than what it’s worth?
In my role as a financial aid counselor, I have gained much insight regarding tuition costs as well as financial aid amounts and options. In my years of being a financial counselor I have observed that many students rely on loans to help finance their educations. There are advantages and disadvantages for taking out educational to pay for college. The main advantage is that these loans can help students pay for their education when they may be unable to pay out of pocket or if other types of financial aid are not enough to cover their tuition. However, it’s important to understand that by accepting a loan, the student will be entering into a contractual agreement to repay all money borrowed plus any applicable interest that may accrue. This is a fact that sometimes many students may overlook. The student will never only pay back the same amount they borrowed because the interest makes the payback amount higher.
There are approximately 37 million student loan borrowers with outstanding student loans today. (Source: Federal Reserve Board of New York). There is roughly somewhere between $902 billion and $1 trillion in total outstanding student loan debt in the United States today. According to a report by the Institute for, College Access and Success, a non-profit research and advocacy group, “ College students who graduated with bachelor's degrees in 2011 left school with the largest average student debt load in history — $26,600, a 5 percent increase from $25,250 in 2010”. This statistic shows how student debt has increased in just one year. In 2014/2015 the interest rate on undergraduate Stafford loans is climbing to 4.66