Storm clouds gathering on the horizon are not due to April showers, but to student debt. Increasing college costs coupled with decreasing support for higher education from state and federal governments leads many students to take out larger college loans than they have in the past. Debts effectively close off opportunities for recent graduates to take low-paying but critical jobs. Higher education should be about opening doors of opportunity, not closing them.
Two-thirds of all college graduates in 2004 left school with student debt, compared to less than one-third in 1993. These figures will only get worse. In February, Congress passed $12 billion in cuts to student loan programs, the largest such cuts in history. Seventy percent of these cuts will target students and parents already struggling with payments.
The federal government has only minimally increased the maximum award for the Pell Grant, which delivers need-based aid to more than five million students, in the past four years. The burden on students' shoulders will continue to grow unless action is taken soon.
Students entering low-paying careers in public service face especially daunting circumstances. Research by Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group has found that 50.3 percent of public-college and 64.1 percent of private-college graduates in Wisconsin have unmanageable debt as starting teachers. Nationally, 37 percent of public and 55 percent of private college graduates would have unmanageable debt as starting social workers.
Teachers and social workers play a critical role in American society. As students take out more loans for college, state and local governments will have a harder time recruiting and retaining talented teachers and social workers.
Teachers and social workers are representative of a whole sector of low-paying but socially valuable careers that a graduating senior might choose, such as non-profit community work, journalism or the arts. The loss of talented individuals who would enter these fields but cannot due to accumulated student debt will be a tremendous blow to the United States.
The Pell Grant should have maximum award caps removed and be funded by Congress. At the state level, merit-based aid programs have been supplanting need-based aid programs while the overall pool of funds remains the same. Increasing need-based grant aid will reduce how much students have to borrow.
Loan payments should be manageable for borrowers of all income levels. Student debt should not grow unchecked or last indefinitely. All student loans should have fair and clear interest rates, and students and parents need basic consumer protections in the private loan market. Lenders that give borrowers misleading information and/or charge predatory rates must be punished. Loan forgiveness for those that enter into public service careers should be a viable possibility.
State governments and colleges that keep tuition low must receive financial incentives that enable them to maximize enrollment at affordable costs.
The Secretary of Education has set up a commission on higher education, and any recommendations from them must address student debt. We must hold them accountable. Higher education should not be about the financial storms on the horizon, but about the clear skies and sunny days of the future.
Eric Lensmire is a senior majoring in political science. We value your feedback. Please send responses to
opinion@dailycardinal.com.
To find additional information on student debt, please visit
www.studentdebtalert.org.
