I am not an economist. I am not a financial planner. What I am is an academic. And I see students every term that are part of the ballooning student loan debt crisis. For many, loans are the only way to pay for a higher education. For many, a higher education is the pathway out of the circumstances they grew up in. I understand the need and the why, but I am concerned about what is going to happen as these students graduate and enter the job force.
If I am a typical student and graduate with around $37k and change in debt, I have an immediate concern over how to pay for that bill. Unless I die or become permanently disabled, there is really very little I can do aside from pay for the loan. There are some forgiveness programs, but they are hard to actually complete. That puts serious pressure on me to find something that will bring in enough money to cover my loan, along with any other living expenses I have. That is if I am a typical student and don’t have more debt to deal with.
Think for a moment about the damage that those loans, and that pressure, has on the persons involved. There is pressure to take a job, maybe the first one offered, rather than taking time to find something that is actually a good fit. That one debt could affect many decisions and the overall trajectory of the person’s life. That is not only damaging for the student in question, but it is also damaging for all of the others that interact with the student. The stress and pressure aren’t likely to make anyone friendlier at work or home.
I am far from the first person to write about this issue. Being in the midst of graduation season made me think about the topic again, along with several students who have written essays on this topic in my writing classes. This crisis is one of our own making. Like all of the other crises we have created, this one too will come back to bite us in the rear. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do think that we are past the time when we need to take a step back and think about higher education, how to pay for it, and what it means for us individually and as a country.