I graduated from Temple University in 1981. As an undergraduate, my student loan was 7,500.00,
of which I paid back in a few years shortly after my graduation. Today,
young people enroll in college hoping to have a fair opportunity in adulthood.
Many do not receive scholarships or special grants toward tuition and are
presented with the dilemma of how they will afford college tuition since
tuition is much higher than when I attended undergraduate school. I do not
remember ever being confronted with the idea of parent plus loans when I
attended college. My parents had six children and would have never agreed
to such a program. Today, students who
cannot afford college are given the option of parent plus loans or not
attending college at all. Parents are
forced to make decisions to take out high interest loans for their children for
fear that their children will not have a fair chance to excel in life.
The problem is that students complete college often with all
intentions of repaying the parent plus bill; however, parents remain stuck with
the bill often while their son or daughter pursues employment in their field of
study in a time where employment opportunities are slim. In my daughter’s case, she had to go back to
college for her masters degree, for a new field of study, because her original degree from Penn State, did not
produce relevant job opportunities in her field due to changing technology and professional
networks. Just think, we live in what is believed to be one of the richest nations in the world, and a parent approaching retirement is stuck with a college tuition bill for her son or daughter. While many countries provide free
education for their young people, we frown on them and call them socialist. Instead, in America, families struggling to educate their children become encumbered by debt from college loans. This is celebrated in our capitalistic society; where the poor systematically become poorer and the rich get richer.
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders seemed to understand
the need to help families while providing free college tuition, and for
restructuring the loans for students and families, but of course he was called
a socialist. So, we would rather promote a government where only a few at the
top can afford to improve their educational status? Since the rich rule in
America, providing help for common citizens is not something viewed as
important. Perpetuating a certain class
is what seems to be the agenda. While one may believe that attending college will
take one to a higher level and a better lifestyle, one then finds oneself trapped
with a bill that ultimately does not significantly improve one’s situation if
one considers the never-ending costs of repaying student loans. The student loan crisis must be restructured,
and hopefully in my lifetime.
