The Student Debt Crisis
College is not what it used to be financially. There was a time when a part-time job could sustain a teenager through college, but not anymore. The debts accrued from college in today’s world are burying the hopes and dreams of graduates many of whom could not get the job that they studied for.
It All Adds Up
College debt comes from a variety of factors. Tuition far in excess of what it once was combined with book costs, campus housing and meal plans are major contributors of the bulk of the finances students have to pay back. Combined with the excessive online course content and they you often need to need an online access code to do your homework is proof that these schools are out to milk you for all your worth.
Your average college textbook costs a hundred dollars with rare examples being fifty or twenty. However, if you have coursework, expect to be paying for four to seven of those little books.
Further complicating the debt is the fact that after you graduate, there is no guarantee you can get the career you aspire for. In an ideal world, once you got that job with its high five or six figure yearly salary then you should be able to fix the debt. Sadly, the aforementioned fact that there are no guarantees of securing the job is exacerbated by a poor economy.
It Feels Impossible
The Great Recession of the early millennium created a generational crisis of “lost years” where college graduates couldn’t get the job their degree was for. In this time, the lack of job security combined with rents, car payments, medical bills and student loan debt (with interest) sent many people back to their parent’s basement.
Internships, odd jobs, and minimum wage were not a way to pay off student loan debts that accrues interest. It seems that college institutions purposely hawk up prices to squeeze every penny out of their students and, with the interest, these students are stuck paying their colleges back for decades.
An Incredible Sum
According to The Balance, the United States alone has $1.48 trillion of student loan debt with the average student debt being within the 30 to 40K mark. The engineering of a system of perpetual debt seems to be the opus operandi of the educational industry which targets young adults who are just learning about financial responsibility. It is an insidious system of exploitation of young women and men who are just trying to make their lives better.
October 13, 2019 @ 6:32 am
I couldn’t resist commenting