Essay On Student Debt

American culture has embedded the idea that education is essential for a successful and thriving future; however, the price for higher education has increased almost 82% since 1980 (Shabazz). On the contrary, minimum wage, jobs, and government programs have been stagnant. Students are expected to pay back steep student loans with mediocre jobs and deficient wages. This ignorant concept leaves students with an absurd amount of debt that is practically impossible to pay off within a reasonable amount of time. Student debt creates a long-term financial struggle that can deter future socioeconomic decisions and opportunities. The American Government has inadvertently created a system that undermines “The American Dream” while trying to pursue it. The tuition has been at a constant increase for the past three decades for many reasons. The simplest reason is that inflation continues to rise. Inflation is an increase in the overall level of prices, including products used by colleges to function (Flynn pg 532).

Today students are much more likely to both borrow and work-- and given the desires of students and their families to avoid taking out loans, it is clear that this behavior is not based on a change in preferences… Debt has implications not only for financial capabilities post-college but also for the odds of completing a degree in the first place.” 3
Low income families hold the largest student loan debt, even while using the Pell Grant, because they don’t have extra cash to throw towards loans when they are paying for essentials like food, utilities, rent, etc. When comparing impoverished families and wealthy families’ loan debt, impoverished families owe around 70% of their income to loans, while wealthy families only owe 10% (Rab pg 94). For the majority of Americans, giving 70% of your income would be undoable especially for families below the poverty