Growing up, the question of what we wanted to be was popularly asked at home and school. Customarily, most of our responses included big-collar jobs like pilots, doctors, and engineers, while some were fairytales like a superhero or a princess. As a child, I wanted to be a doctor who opened people’s hearts to give them a second chance at life, popularly known as Cardiothoracic. When I grew up, I still wanted to be a heart surgeon, but the reality of how much it costs to study it baffled me. Currently, I am waving my options of choosing another career path that would be cheaper, not because I do not want to be a heart doctor, but because it is too expensive to be one. I have seen firsthand how college debts affect people like my parents trying to make ends meet in this tough economy. As a result, college debts have influenced most of my decision-making regarding school. College debts negatively impact students because of the rising cost of schools and the horrible effects it has on the rest of someone’s life.
Upon determining what higher institution to attend, one essential factor is education. “Will I get my money’s worth? Will the education be quality?” are the popular questions among students contemplating what college or university to attend. For students in and out of the state, it costs an average tuition of $32,410 for a four-year private college education. For students in the state, it costs an average tuition of $9,410 and $23,890 for students out of the state for a four-year college education. Remember that this is the tuition price only, excluding fees, textbooks, board and room, transportation, meal plans, and additional costs. A Think Process study stated that there had been a dramatic rise in college funds over the last thirty years. Since 1980 the cost of receiving higher education has hiked three times higher. For a four-year public college education, the average tuition in 2010 was $7,600 from $2,100 in 1980. For a four-year private college education, the average tuition in 2010 was$27,300 a threefold increase of $9,500 in 1980. Should students worry about tuition? Students should be able to choose the school of their liking instead of settling for the bare minimum because of the cost. A student should worry about making good grades and concentrating on their studies instead of how much student debt they have accumulated or how they will pay for their education. Lewin (2009) explains that most families cannot pay for the college tuition for their children, which is why most take student loans.
Student loan debts impact someone’s life long after graduation especially considering how much someone borrowed. Apart from anxiety and stress every minute, student loan debts make people delay important life events and make hard choices. People rush into jobs to meet their repayments. Student debts are paid monthly, meaning the more someone borrows, the more considerable the money. As such, students tend to settle for any job to have a head start on student loans. According to scholars by the American Student Association, they state that student loans have hampered the ability of 50% of graduates to further their careers (Porter, 2022). Nonetheless, the work quality and concentration levels of induvial stressed about student debts are low. After this realization, businesses delay employing people with student loans. Student debts lower an individual’s net worth. Most graduates have negative net worth, which gives them difficulties in purchasing things and also affects loan credibility in banks. There is a significant difference in the net worth of students who graduated with student debts and those who did not.
Sometimes students avoid joining colleges or universities for fear of taking on debt. The only prospect of accumulating thousands of dollars appears daunting to students; hence they opt out of entering higher education institutions. If student loans were not a massive issue, more students would join higher education institutions. Therefore, the country would have an educated workforce with an increased lifetime of income, ultimately boosting the country’s economic growth. Most people without student debts achieve their life goals faster. Student debts delay the ability of someone to achieve their life goals, like finding jobs in their preferred field of life and pursuing their education further.
References
Lewin, T. (2009). Study shows a rise in average borrowing by students. New York Times, August 11, 2009.
Porter, T. (2022, January 19). How Student Loan Debt Can Impact Your Life. https://lendedu.com/blog/impact-of-student-loan-debt/
write