As the cost of higher education is rising, students are faced with more debt from student loans.
A report released by the Project on Student Debt at the nonprofit Institute for College Access & Success ranked Indiana
11th highest in the nation for the average amount of student loan debt.
In 2011, 70 percent of Ball State students graduated with debt. The
average amount of debt of those graduates was just more than $25,000.
Rebecca Howerton, a 2010 Ball State grad, said she left school with the same amount of student loans.
“A lot of people go to sleep with these stomach cramps because they
can’t think about anything but their student loans. Everybody’s got
them,” she said. “You’re rare if you don’t graduate with student loans
anymore.”
During her time at Ball State, Howerton studied education. After
graduation, she was a teacher for a year, but now she works for an
insurance company.
Because she spent money on a major she is not even using, Howerton said “a big part of me feels” regret.
“You have to declare bankruptcy due to something you can never get rid
of,” she said. “That’s the scariest part about them, I think.”
Because of the current situation, Howerton said she thinks the government should reform the loan system.
“Everybody this age is graduating with $30,000-$70,000 in debt to go
get a $30,000-a-year-paying job,” she said. “Either people are going to
quit going to school, or they’re going to have to do something about
it.”
A survey done earlier this year by Sallie Mae found that more families
are considering cost when choosing a college. The study, which has been
conducted for five years, found 69 percent of the families surveyed
eliminated college choices because of cost.
President Jo Ann Gora has told faculty members about increasing
pressure the school faces on several fronts, including the cost of
education.
“There are many stories out there about what business, government and members of the general public want from us: a more responsive, more expeditious and less expensive education,” Gora said in her Fall Faculty Convocation at the beginning of the semester.
“The economy has been stagnant for nearly four years, after balancing on the edge of depression,” she continued. “Nationally, college loan debt totals close to $1 trillion. ... The debate about whether college is even worth the investment has been bubbling for some time, and it is growing to a boil.”
The university’s new strategic plan calls for achieving a 65 percent,
six-year graduation rate by 2015. While the graduation goal doesn’t
mention reducing student debt or lowering the average amount of loans,
the goal could have that effect anyway. Students who graduate in four
years instead of five, for example, save money on their education.
Jenna Smith, who graduated from Ball State in May, said it’s a
necessity to go to college and describes student loans as a “necessary
evil.”
“It was definitely looming over my shoulder, something that I
constantly had in the back of my head,” she said. “You have to do it to
get a good job, but you’re always thinking about it.”
While student debt is a major stress for Howerton and Smith, others disagree.
Pat Gamble, University of Alaska president, said the debt is at fault of the students because some choose to purchase cars, apartments and spend money on spring break — luxuries they cannot afford without loans.
Smith, though, said she started making monthly payments toward the interest on her loans sophomore year.
“It made me feel a little better, but knowing the principal amount was
still there was still kind of a problem,” she said. “But it helped a
little bit knowing I was doing something to offset the cost.”
Although Smith said she has 10 years to pay off her loans, she said she
is confident she will be able to do so in four or five years.
“I know that the economy’s not so good right now, but if you could do
all you can to get a job after graduation, it really does make it easier
knowing you’re in a financial position to make payments,” Smith said.
“You would be worse off without a college education.”
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