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Student Loans: Good or Bad?
Esperanza Bauder
When most high school seniors graduate, they plan on immediately attending college to better their lives. The goal is to get a successful job that will pay enough to provide for the needs, and most of the wants of life. Unfortunately, the great cost of attendance at most universities leaves many students scratching their heads about how they will pay for the better future they desire. Some dig into their life savings, some receive scholarships, and most apply for student loans. But are student loans truly a good idea? Will the load of debt most acquire from student loans help deliver the grand future most students dream of, or will it actually hinder their chances of getting a job, and therefore make college, and their decision to be up to their ears in debt, a huge mistake? The article, End U.S. Student Loans, Don 't Make Them Cheaper, by Richard Vedder says that student loans will do more harm than good, while Jordan Weissmann 's article, More Student Debt, Please: Why College Students Don 't Borrow Enough, takes a positive approach to student loans. While both pieces offer reasoned points, only one can have more validity, but which one?
According to Richard Vedder 's article, End U.S. Student Loans, Don 't Make Them Cheaper, “almost 54 percent of recent college graduates are underemployed or unemployed” (2012). This ultimately means that 54 percent of college graduates are most likely not living the dream life they thought they would be living after finally graduating from college. Vedder says that “[t]he country is turning out far more college graduates than jobs exist in the areas traditionally reserved for them” (2012). He blames the over abundance of student loans for this problem. Vedder believes that if the process of acquiring student loans changed,the ”total number of students attending four-year programs would fall modestly” (2012), and thus leveling out the ratio of college graduates compared to the number
Esperanza Bauder
When most high school seniors graduate, they plan on immediately attending college to better their lives. The goal is to get a successful job that will pay enough to provide for the needs, and most of the wants of life. Unfortunately, the great cost of attendance at most universities leaves many students scratching their heads about how they will pay for the better future they desire. Some dig into their life savings, some receive scholarships, and most apply for student loans. But are student loans truly a good idea? Will the load of debt most acquire from student loans help deliver the grand future most students dream of, or will it actually hinder their chances of getting a job, and therefore make college, and their decision to be up to their ears in debt, a huge mistake? The article, End U.S. Student Loans, Don 't Make Them Cheaper, by Richard Vedder says that student loans will do more harm than good, while Jordan Weissmann 's article, More Student Debt, Please: Why College Students Don 't Borrow Enough, takes a positive approach to student loans. While both pieces offer reasoned points, only one can have more validity, but which one?
According to Richard Vedder 's article, End U.S. Student Loans, Don 't Make Them Cheaper, “almost 54 percent of recent college graduates are underemployed or unemployed” (2012). This ultimately means that 54 percent of college graduates are most likely not living the dream life they thought they would be living after finally graduating from college. Vedder says that “[t]he country is turning out far more college graduates than jobs exist in the areas traditionally reserved for them” (2012). He blames the over abundance of student loans for this problem. Vedder believes that if the process of acquiring student loans changed,the ”total number of students attending four-year programs would fall modestly” (2012), and thus leveling out the ratio of college graduates compared to the number
References: Snook, C. (2012, February). Student loans: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Under30CEO. Retrieved from http://under30ceo.com/student-loans-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly Vedder, R. (2012, June). End U.S. student loans, don’t make them cheaper. Bloomberg. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-17/end-u-s-student-loans-don-t-make-them-cheaper.html Weissmann, J. (2012, June). more student debt, please: why college students don 't borrow enough. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/more-student- debt-please-why-college-students-dont-borrow-enough/258205/