Hundreds of thousands of students don’t pay off their college debt throughout the entirety of their lives. A common question that is brought up is, to what extent should acquiring a college degree depend on economic status? The collateral for your student loan debt is your future earnings, so is the amount of college debt one will receive worth one’s future? One distinguished researcher explains the uprising of student debt over time, “student loan debt has been on the rise, especially during the last decade” (Angau 2016). A typical lens one may view is the social aspect of earning a college degree. More specifically, one may view three different ideas, one being Income vs. Debt, another being Race vs. Student Debt, Amount the Government Loans vs. Amount the Family Pays, and lastly, Major vs. Student Debt. All of this depends on the students wealth, race, family income, and major.
Much of society believes, if you are poor, there is no point in wasting money on college. However, how much of this is true? Looking through a social perspective of Income vs. Debt, it is mainly a matter of wealth. Not only how wealthy one is going into college, but how wealthy you will eventually be. An intelligent author and associate director of policy & research at Demos states, “while most student borrowers have debts that most would not consider “high-dollar,” low- and moderate-income borrowers are more likely than the wealthy to owe large student debts that, of course, they have fewer resources to confront” (Huelsman 198). Many students who have a higher salary find paying off college debts not difficult, while lots of students with lower and moderate salary take a much longer time to pay it off and not always will they pay it off. Numerous students may have their parents pay for college, although parents who take on loans for their kids, owe the debt. Figure 5.1 on page 197 of the novel, Student Debt by William Elliott III and Melinda K. Lewis, shows that 7% of students with family incomes of less than $30,000, have no student debt. On the other hand, 52% of students with family incomes of $100,000 or more, have no student debt. This meaning, it is unlikely to be in no debt with a low income compared to someone with a high income. A students wealth and salary shows the difficulty level of paying off college debt.
Another way to view college debts is by looking at Race vs. Loans. Race also plays a major role in paying off college debt. One may wonder what this has to do with debt, but studies show that there is a racial bias. The president at Demos points out how not only do students of color and those disadvantaged by low incomes borrow more frequently than white students and those economically privileged; when they do borrow, they often rely more heavily on student loans to finance their educations, resulting in a larger loan balances, as well. Shown in a graph of average debt per race, it shows that African Americans as well as Hispanics have a much higher amount of debt than the whites. Robert Kelchen, assistant professor at Seton Hall University, analyzed the new data and found that “black students were 150 percent more likely to accumulate $100,000 or more in student debt than white students” (Kelchen 2016). This establishes the fact that colored men and women are in more debt than whites. Putting this together, black families have accumulated much less wealth than white families, although there are many reasons towards this. Race partakes an important part in paying off student loans.
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In addition, another perspective is looking through Educational Appropriations vs. Net Tuition Revenue, which is based on family income. Over time, the amount of money the government is willing to loan students is continuously decreasing from 1990 to 2014. Society has more precisely attributed increases in student loan burden to eroding public support for higher education. The net tuition has been raising due to the loss of government funding to secondary education systems, state colleges are getting less funding from the government so the colleges are forced to hike tuition rates on students. Although, there are many scholarship opportunities, not everyone qualifies for them. While the United States government spends less on secondary education, they are spending more on prisons. The state spends over $32,000 to feed and shelter a prisoner but is cutting funds for college students. Many students and families are living paycheck to paycheck just to survive, many families can hardly fund their students college tuition. “The costs of salaries and benefits are higher today than they have been in past decades” (Seltzer 2016). As they continue to raise net tuition revenue, less and less people decide it is reasonable to go to college. This shows the trends in education finance as well as the appropriations for postsecondary education and net tuition.
Lastly, looking through our last view being Major vs. Student debt, former President Barack Obama states, ‘[A] lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career. I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree’ (Obama 2016). In order to pay off student debt, the student must choose a degree that is in high demand. Students that choose degrees in the medical and engineering fields are more apt to get a good paying job and thus will be able to pay off any student loans that are acquired. Students that choose liberal arts degrees will probably find lower paying jobs and will probably have a more difficult time paying off their loans. Students have to research their career fields, college funding, and debt loads to make wise choices about their college degrees.
A social aspect of the question, “To What Extent Should Acquiring A College Degree Depend on Economic Status?” could be answered with using the four topics. Living in a wealthy family makes it easier to pay off college debt, while it takes someone with a low- or moderate- income a longer time to pay off their debt. All students have to make wise choices in choosing colleges as well as college degrees. The major chosen by the student and the return on their investment — how much student debt will be acquired and how much money will be earned with their degree to pay off the debt.
