Another month, another check I write out in the amount of $405 payable to Salle Mae for student loans accrued for undergrad and grad studies. Sallie Mae and I are scheduled to be in each other’s lives for the next several years as I pay off my decision to use debt as a way to learn. I emphasize on my decision because that’s what it was- a choice I made. I hold no one else responsible! With that said, I often wonder if I would have made different choices if I were educated a little more on the lasting effects of taking out debt for school. I would like to think I would’ve been smarter ….
Apparently I’m not alone in the student loan cycle. According to New York Daily News, student loan debt hits a record $1 trillion!! That’s a 1 with lots of zeros after! It might as well be INFINITY!
It’s scary to see such a high number. Many students leave college with student loan debt and have no idea that their careers will begin with large payments to pay back their debt. ..for several years.
So, again I ask, would better information regarding student loans including interest rate, payment terms, and length of time to pay, help students make better choices regarding student loans?
I think when you sit a student down and show them if you take this amount of money out you will pay X for X amount of time. Make it a required class or as a part of the orientation process. Use illustrations, have guest speakers who are witnesses to getting into deep student loan debt and are now struggling to pay it off. Give alternative methods for paying for school including work study, part time jobs and maybe even choosing a different school that is cheaper.
Can we really keep going at the pace we’re at?? Something has to change, NOW wouldn’t you agree?
The bottom line is I think if we better educate students on the later effects of taking out student loans we would see a shrinking number to the total student debt. When you know better you do better, and I am pretty positive better choices would be made if students had more information. I like what Dave Ramsey’s saying “kick Sallie Mae to the curb!” You can be a student without student loans!!!
Ok, enough of my ranting- LOL! Give me some of your ideas! Do you think students would be better off if they had more information regarding student loan debt?
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Thank you!!! Education Loan »
Hi there, can someone tell me what happens if you don’t pay your education loan? I have read somewhere that the serious actions will be taken on the student? Is it true………..
Hi Chris! yes, there are consequences if you don’t pay student loans, just like with any other type of debt. The thing with student loans is they are not bankrutable! Soemthing to think about