College Debt

Throughout the years, college debt has increased dramatically. As of now, our country is about $1 trillion dollars in college debt.  Students have been taking out loans after loans, just to obtain a higher education, but is it worth it in the long run?  Months after you get your college degree, those loans and the baggage that comes with it, will be knocking at your door.  The increase of college debt does not only affect students financially, but affects their lives as a whole.

         Students tend to want to drop out of college because the debt they are in starts to take a toll on them.  They can be going into their third year of college and have to take out more loans.  Once they realize they can’t afford to take out any more loans, the only option to them is to drop out. Even though they have dropped out, they still have loans to pay off.  Now let’s say a student does graduate from college and is now looking for a career. “According to the series, two-thirds of students who earn a bachelor’s degree borrow to pay for higher education — many without being aware of how that debt may cripple them later” (NY Times, pp.1).  It will be hard getting hired for a career if you have bad credit.  They might have to find full or part time jobs just to help keep stable for the time being. Those jobs are not supporting enough, so most students wind up living home with their parents.  “College graduates and postgraduates, instead of buying cars, buying houses, getting married, having children—in other words, becoming full-fledged consumers are “running back home” (The Chronicle, pp.1).  It is basically a lose-lose situation for students because either you drop out or finish your college education; you still have to look forward to paying off your increasing debt.

Being in a huge amount of debt has also affected relationships.  “The crushing monthly loan payments restrict their lifestyle, often forcing them to work extra jobs to make ends meet, put off major purchases and proceed cautiously with career and family decisions” (Democrat and Chronicle).  People are hesitant about deciding to take their relationships to the next level; marriage. They feel like they can’t afford to provide for a family and worry about their debt.  Some people do feel like they can take on the decision of marriage, but don’t realize the financial responsibilities that are attached to it.  When you become married, everything that was “I” turns into “we”. So, basically everything you have is combined with your spouse, including debt.  Both partners can be in college debt and go into marriage without even knowing what that their debt is totaled together.  They can’t even pay a mortgage for a home since their debt combine is massive.  One spouse might try to pay off the debt and the other might just enjoy spending money, which leads to arguments and even divorce.   “Nearly 80 percent of the couples who get a divorce cite financial difficulties as one of the major reasons” (The Nest).