Student loans are the worst words any college student can hear, they are a reminder that six months after graduation some sort of payment must start being made. However, for some students, loans can continue to be paid off for the rest of their life. When I was a senior in high school I had no idea what I wanted to major in and thought it would be a better idea to go to community college first. Afterwards I attended Seton Hall University and realized that $18,000 a semester was not worth the stress of paying all that money off in the future. Therefore, I would have to say that transferring into Kean University was the best decision I made because I will have less debt and am no longer as stressed about my future.
There was an interesting article/video on USA Today on Collin Brennan, a student at Christopher Newport University. Brennan went around asking fellow students if they would either save their pinky or lose their pinky and all of their student debt was erased. After watching the video it was interesting to see how many people would choose to save their pinky over having no student debt. For example, some students would save their pinky because they had to be able to count to ten on their hands, they don’t like odd numbers, and because it was their pinky. On the other hand some students were okay with losing their pinky because they liked odd numbers and they didn’t want student debt. In my opinion I would be OK with losing a pinky if it meant that all of my student debt was gone because I would be less stressed and happier knowing that I don’t have to pay off my student loans slowly over the years when I can use that money towards something else. What would you do, lose a pinky or pay off your student loans?
However, students should be filled in on the background of student loans and where the country is in regard to loans. According to an article written by Al Vaughters, “college loan debt has now reached $1.3 trillion.” The surprising factor is that college debt is second to home mortgage debt and more than what Americans owe on their credit cards. Not every family in America can afford to send their children to the best schools and sometimes not even the schools that have an average price tag. However, in order to get a job out of school a majority of companies require that you have a degree, therefore young adults must attend school. Vaughters stated that “students should know how long it is going to take them to get out of that debt and what kind of income levels they will need to support eventually paying off that student debt.” Overall, no matter how many years passes by the student loan debt will be high and we as students need to prepare and figure out what path is best for us.
