Talking Stick - March/April 2009 - (Page 27) speCial FoCus The Rising Tide of College Debt by Brian Stroup Students can find more than degrees on campus. They can also find help with finances. Books for the term – $500. Late-night meals for a week – $50. In-state tuition and housing for a term at a state school – $10,000. The amount of time it takes to pay all this off – 10-15 years. College today is more expensive than ever, having almost doubled in cost since 1990. The average annual cost of attendance fINANcIAL AID, ScHoLARSHIpS, for a four-year AND pART-TIME jobS cAN oNLy public school is now $6,585 and Do So MucH To coMbAT THE for a four-year INcREASINg pRIcE of HIgHER private school is EDucATIoN. MANy STuDENTS $25,143 according HAVE TuRNED To cREDIT cARDS to College Board. In 1990 it was AS A wAy To copE wITH THE $2,900 for a fourHIgH pRIcE – AND THE RESuLTS year public school cAN bE DISASTRouS. and $12,000 for a four-year private school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Students across the country are doing everything they can to get through four or five years of school with the least amount of debt possible. Financial aid, scholarships, and part-time jobs can only do so much to combat the increasing price of higher education. Many students have turned to credit cards as a way to cope with the high price – and the results can be disastrous. According to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study conducted from 2003 to 2004, the average student loan debt of graduating seniors is $19, 237. This number, high as it is, does not even include the amount of credit card debt that college students accumulate during their time at school. Nellie Mae reports that the average student graduates with $2,700 in credit card debt. This puts the average total debt owed by college students upon graduation at almost $22,000. The figures get even scarier when students decide to head off to grad school or law school soon after completing their undergraduate education. So what is being done to combat this increasing problem? Education. To help inform students of the dangers of debt, campuses across the country are calling in professionals to talk with students directly about how to manage and lower their debt. March + april 2009 27
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