Majoring In Debt: College Students Struggle Under The Weight Of Loans

$24,000.

That's the average student debt in America, according to a report last year from the Project on Student Debt.

For many students, that figure is modest. Take Aleesha Nash, a graduate of New York University. "Logging into the Federal Student Aid website," she writes on the Huffington Post, "I see that today my balance is $104,104.63 for a percentage of the information in my head."

And there's Jaclyn Cabral, too. Jaclyn chose to attend Elon University in North Carolina because it's "regarded as one of the most affordable private educations." Still, she graduated $90,000 in debt.

For many of these students, paying off their loans is a nearly unsurmountable challenge. Brandon Woods, a Hampton University alum, finds himself working two jobs -- and hardly making a dent in his $58,000 deficit.

Since HuffPost College's launch in Feb. 2010, we've been documenting the stories -- your stories -- of students and graduates in crippling, suffocating debt. The students who are America's promise, its very future, and can hardly afford to keep themselves afloat. This is our third installment in the series. If you have a story to share, please email college [at] huffingtonpost [dot] com.

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Comments

[michelv]

08:46 PM on 11/05/2011

Take an 18 year old with no concept of what they will be earning in the future or any idea about how much it costs to really live on their own. Then dump them in a system where both universities and the government are willing to loan them huge sums of money. Both are viewed as respectable entities by these innocent minds, so they think this is the right thing to do, that it is normal and a sound investment. It's turned into a big disgraceful scam! And I blame the universities for it. They have become the epitome of hypocrisy in so many issues.

[Goldie Treasure]

08:30 PM on 11/01/2011

Some of those degrees were so not worth the debt. Also why pick such expensive schools? I am about to transfer soon and am fighting to get into the cheapest schools before the other more expensive ones.

[gold7246]

07:04 PM on 11/01/2011

Wait a minute. Did anyone force these students to go to these high priced colleges or take out the loans? Maybe, they should've started at a junior college and then transferred to a more reasonably priced 4 yr. college. It should not be up to the tax payer to shoulder the burden of these unpaid loans. We don't another entitlement.

[journ student]

01:00 AM on 10/28/2011

I don't feel as bad about my own debt now. I graduated in 2009 with two degrees (a BA and a BS) and no debt, through a combination of an inheritance, my student job, some help from my parents and my internships. I took out about $35,000 to get my MA, which I just finished. The loan covered absolutely everything, including tuition, room, board, books, general living expenses and travel for academic/professional stuff. I'm taking a couple of years to work, save money, start paying off the loan and get my work permit (I got my MA in Britain) before I go for a PhD (also in Britain, hopefully). My PhD would be funded and I'd receive a teaching/lecturing stipend, so my MA will probably be my only degree that puts me in the hole. In my academic area (public policy, politics and social science), you almost have to have at least a masters to get any sort of good research position, and obviously a PhD is required to teach and do high-level work. So there's a method to the madness.

[YLTL]

10:38 AM on 10/27/2011

I graduated in 2004 with right around the average amount of student debt ($20,000). Colleges don't do a good job of teaching students what they're getting into with this debt. However, even if they did, most students won't learn from it because they think they'll be rich a few years out of school. This is what I thought so I continued to take out loans. Now, I've turned it around and am trying to stop students from getting into debt before they start. I even wrote an article asking if college education is worth the price:

http://www.yourlifetheirlife.com/blog/college-education-worth-price-05152011

[Joshua Dugan]

01:39 PM on 10/26/2011

Why would you take out loans for these amounts if you don't have the means to pay them back? Why didn't you go to an affordable state school? I don't feel sorry for students who graduate with enormous debt. I went to a cheap state school because that was within my means. I got a scholarship my second year. I graduated with $2K in debt and paid it off within 3 months after getting a job that paid $11/hr. I graduated into the .bomb and 9/11 era. It was hard to get a decent job then too. I started as a receptionist and worked my way up. Sorry you didn't graduate making $75,000 even though you took out as much in loans.

[hypnotoad72]

07:37 PM on 11/01/2011

When did you graduate? What year? What job? What field? At $11/hr, it's definitely not anytime very recently... (and if you noted how income has not risen with inflation; the difference between 1970 and 2010 is astonishing, especially when only one parent needed to work back in 1970...)

[farmilyman]

01:46 AM on 10/22/2011

So the takeaway is --- Don't go to college for what you want, go for what potential employers want.

[jdusaf]

12:55 PM on 10/26/2011

You can and should go to college for what you want, but don't be surprised if what you want and what is in demand in the workplace are not matched.

[Alex Sarmiento]

01:04 AM on 10/21/2011

I have $20,000 in student loans from City College of San Francisco. I don't know how I'm going to pay it off. My AA degree that I got from CCSF in 2004 (after four years of my parents paying for my education) has become worthless. I haven't found any steady full-time or even part-time work since. I went back to CCSF in 2007 in order to complete transfer requirements, and in my naivete, I took out more student loans than I could handle. With my loans and with my personal problems, I have been wondering if going to college was the right thing. Sometimes, I feel like I should never have gone to school. Last semester, I wrote an e-mail to all my current and previous professors at CCSF telling them my frustrations in that regard. I ended up seeing not one but two counselors, and it didn't help matters.

I'm still at CCSF. Luckily, I'm on a fee waiver for the school year, and they have a book loan program. I still want to complete my transfer requirements. I'm the only person in my family with a college degree. But I'm 30 years old, living at home with my aging parents, with no job prospects, dealing with Asperger's syndrome and no medical insurance, feeling like nothing that you do is good enough for anyone, and $20,000 in the hole... I just want to die sometimes.

[shutter]

04:56 PM on 10/19/2011

ATTENTION all you sexy, single, broke, under/unemployed ladies, preferable living in and around San Francisco, out there!

Hello,

I'm only -$60,000. Lets hook up. You know the drill. No dates, unless its on groupon or living social. I'll try to buy you dinner...but please don't order anything other than water. And after we take public transportation (nothing wrong with that, not hating on it) we can perhaps go back to my parent's house and watch a movie that I'll illegally download for us.

Find me on OkCupid

xoxo

Shutter

[cd1081]

03:40 PM on 10/19/2011

we want to compete with other countries for excellence but we make it
really really hard for our citizens to get the necessary education to win.

go figure.

[jdusaf]

01:00 PM on 10/26/2011

The bulk of jobs that have been outsourced are low/mid skill manufacturing jobs. They are outsourced to countries that see no problem paying workers 20 cents a day under zero regulation.

[hypnotoad72]

07:39 PM on 11/01/2011

Hmmm... the number of IT-related jobs, including the low-skill entry level ones that usually offer stepping stones FOR individuals to get into and move up from, are going as well... a little web searching will even show that even the legal profession is waltzing out the door... and banking (and if other countries don't have the regulations, I hope you feel safe and comfy knowing which computers, and where, and who maintains them, can see it...)

[hypnotoad72]

07:42 PM on 11/01/2011

Also, http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/career/its-a-it-job-seekers-market-employers-need-new-tactics-to-recruit-it-pros/3490?tag=rbxccnbtr1 - a number of people have added a lot of thoughtful responses.

[huffy puffy8592]

02:33 PM on 10/19/2011

http://tuitiontoodamnhigh.blogspot.com/2011/10/inquiry-into-life.html

[Elizabeth Kalfin]

10:49 PM on 10/10/2011

I'm 4th yr student (Mechanical Engineering major) in a 5 year program at a private university. I have no academic scholarships: only need-based aid and loans. My school has a co-op program that gives us 3, 6-month work periods (most of them paid positions) over 5 years of college, so students have 18+ months of work experience upon graduation. The best part: students DON'T PAY TUITION ($33K+) when on a work rotation (unless you lived in on-campus housing, in which case you only paid room/board). Most of my friends (both engineering and non-engineering) worked at 3 different companies in their field. I will probably end up graduating with $85K in loans ($60K or so as of right now). I used a good chunk of the money I made on my co-op rotations to pay down my current loans/interest to lessen the blow after graduation. My best advice, regardless of what major you're in, is to get work experience in college IN YOUR MAJOR. No matter how many jobs you worked in college, employers don't care if you worked part-time at Starbucks if your major is Anthropology. Internships help you get your foot in the door with employers in your major, and networking is one of the best ways (sometimes the only way) to get a job in this economy. There are internships out there for EVERY major (yes, even for the Liberal Arts majors) if you look hard enough.

[Joshua Dugan]

01:44 PM on 10/26/2011

This is really good advice. As someone who works in Human Resources, I always recommend the same thing. I didn't get an internship, and my school didn't push it. It would have been to my advantage to seek some relevant experience prior to graduating. Without relevant experience, you're not going to stand out from the other resumes.

[journ student]

01:05 AM on 10/28/2011

This is very good advice. One of my undergraduate degrees is in journalism and I had three summer internships at three very large newspapers. I just applied for a full-time position at one of them, and I'm hoping that being a previous intern will carry some weight. Journalism is cutthroat enough as it is, and your chances of getting a good job without at least one internship (many people have two or three or even more) are very slim.

[SBinF]

12:02 PM on 10/07/2011

I certainly feel for these students, and the many thousands like them who are in similar positions. But let's be real here, who really thinks it is a good idea to spend tens of thousands of dollars to major in world religions or, "interpersonal communications," whatever that is. You should really assess your job prospects after school. If you don't foresee landing a job to pay off the debt, major in something else.

As an undergrad, I studied history. Did I apply to expensive private colleges? No. I attended a state school with a pretty decent reputation. I amassed less than 10k in loans, and paid those off my first few years working as a teacher.

In the end, it's about being practical. I love liberal arts, but I also understand that a liberal arts degree isn't nearly as in demand as a degree in engineering or accounting. It seems the reality fairy missed many folks who thought it a great idea to study art history, but are then surprised when they're stuck working at Starbucks.

[LibertarianCentrist]

11:30 AM on 10/08/2011

There's a lot of communications, and english majors that are working at Starbucks. I completely agree with you!! I'm also a Musician and a foodie, but I'm a Sommelier not an educator... well, I guess I'm kind of an educator... :)

[lexdiamondz]

08:28 AM on 10/09/2011

Exactly.

Not enough college-age kids really sit down and THINK about their futures and what kind of jobs their degrees will give them. They need to do research and figure out what kind of prospects they've got in order to discern whether or not it really is prudent to spend 100k on a major in Art History or English Literature.

[Peter Majda]

03:33 PM on 10/04/2011

The issue boils down to: do we see education as a basic human right, that everyone should have access to - not just the economically elite? Or Do we think it should be treated like a business, like car payments or a mortgage?
Personally, I believe that as long as the student's willing to do the hard work, education should be considered a basic right, and access to higher education is certainly something that should be reconsidered as a basic right and not a luxury. In this current economy and in the global economy as a whole, where the U.S. has to compete with other emerging economic powers in terms of innovation, we need educated folks. We can't expect to compete globally.
And to the folks who decry students who major in the classics, the humanities or liberal arts - the issue isn't so much these majors, it's that the schools don't ensure that these majors include courses that practical. I definitely see the value of Womens studies majors - outreach groups for rape centers, leaders of women's organizations, academics, journalists, pro-women politicians, etc all can fall under Women's Studies - it's just that vocational classes (i.e. business classes, accounting, bookkeeping) which would make these students valuable to the work force aren't in the curriculum.

[jdusaf]

01:02 PM on 10/26/2011

Where does it end though? We already provide K-12 education, now we advocate post secondary education as well? Will graduate education be next?

At what point to we as a society say, ok now go produce and apply your knowledge?

[HonkyTonkMan]

01:45 PM on 10/04/2011

I clicked because she was hot.