Slate Magazine: Calling student-loan debt "the next debt bomb for the U.S. economy" (as a bankruptcy attorneys group did earlier this month) may be a stretch, but debt loads are indeed large—and vary tremendously from school to school, regardless of whether the institution is public, private, or for-profit. At Florida's Full Sail University, for example, the average first-year, full-time student racks up more than $35,000 in loans, while at Texas A&M International University the average is barely $3,600. First-year students at Harvard average less than half the debt of their Yale counterparts. And the average at UCLA is more than triple Princeton's.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Student-loan debt: an interactive map
Slate Magazine: Calling student-loan debt "the next debt bomb for the U.S. economy" (as a bankruptcy attorneys group did earlier this month) may be a stretch, but debt loads are indeed large—and vary tremendously from school to school, regardless of whether the institution is public, private, or for-profit. At Florida's Full Sail University, for example, the average first-year, full-time student racks up more than $35,000 in loans, while at Texas A&M International University the average is barely $3,600. First-year students at Harvard average less than half the debt of their Yale counterparts. And the average at UCLA is more than triple Princeton's.
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I was surprised to see California so low when Pennsylvania is so high, but then I realized the data reflects only debt post-enrollment, and it made sense that, although California has a number of expensive schools, there are also a number of less expensive schools which admit predominately in-stage and so the tuition is fairly low. I also feel that in California the more expensive schools in California have decently sized endowments and alumni support. I wonder how the number of state schools and the "richness" of a state affects the student loan debts.
Thinking about my student loans makes me kind of sick. Education should not be this expensive on principle, but I understand that it takes a lot of money to run a university like this one. I'm actually surprised to see that these numbers aren't higher, and that there aren't more states with students taking out loans as high as they are here in Pennsylvania. Like Meg I wonder how state schools affect the student loan debts. I know that state schools have income from places that private schools don't have, but I still don't quite understand why private schools cost significantly more money. Sometimes I think I should be more informed about where my money is going, but other times I think that it's probably better that I don't know all the details, because I would just get mad about them. Either way I'm glad that I had least had the opportunity to take out the loans necessary in order for me to come here.
It's frustrating to see just how much money college students have to take out to be able to go to the schools that they want. I know many of the folks that I talk to here at CMU feel fortunate when they talk about they're ability to go to this university, but it is frustrating that for many of us, it comes at a significant cost that's going to have to be paid somewhere down the line as we try to get on our feet after school is over. The fact that the cost of having to go to college and get an education has gotten so large, and that so many people have trouble going to the university that they have the ability and the knowledge to go to, but not the money is one of the saddest things to see, and I hope is something that people won't have to worry about in the future
Student loans are incredible to see if you look at the initial number of what you took out but the number of students who could pay it back before it doubles due to interest is few and far between. It is unconscionable to look at the salaries that students can expect vs their debt because it can be a significant part of their salary just to pay back the debt. Some of my friends student loan payments are more than their mortgage which is obscene.
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