Released: August 23, 2006

Student debt crisis: Are there solutions?

Source: By Talia Berman, WireTap [AlterNet]

Many would argue that higher education in this country is the best in the world. France has some of the best culinary schools, and Oxford and Cambridge have rivaling histories of literary renown, but only in the United States will you find comparable culinary and literary prowess as well as thousands of virtually every other topic one could imagine - only to the United States do more than half a million students come every year to study.

But at what cost? Americans (and visiting students) have always paid more for education. And in the past 30 years, in the past 10 years, in the past two years, the cost of higher education, including tuition and loan repayment, has steadily increased. But 2006 will likely go down as the worst year in history for student borrowers, and as the mountains of debt grow, young peoples’ lives are forever changing.

Holly MacGibbon graduated from NYU’s theater program with $120,000 in debt, which has obviously prevented her from taking any entry-level theater jobs. “Without $600 a month in loan payments, I could take a lower-paying theater job instead of working outside my field. Summer theater jobs, where most young performers start out, pay $200 to $300 a week, which is just not enough when you have $600 in loan payments.”

And Julia Stubben’s post-graduate life has been entirely governed by her student debt. “Being in debt has greatly affected my financial decisions. I do not enjoy my job, and it is not the career I would have chosen for myself, and in order to take the job I had to move three hours away from my boyfriend, family, and friends. Pretty much, I live in seclusion in a relatively boring rural area and hate this stage of my life. The only reason I am in this situation is because of the job - which is paying off my loans.”

According to Toby Chaudhuri, communications director at the progressive research group Campaign for America’s Future, continuing to charge exorbitantly for education will have grave results.

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