By Crystal Norman |Staff Writer|
College students in the US leave campus on graduation day with an average of $35,000 in student loan debt, adding up to 1.3 trillion dollars nation wide in 2016, according to businessinsider.com
According to USnews.com, college graduates have the misconception that their student loans will take them 10 years to pay off, but currently, the average bachelor degree takes 21 years to pay off.
With the rise of tuition and a bachelor degree being a standard requirement and the US student loan debts are assumed to increase as are the years needed to pay them off, according to CNBC.com.
This leaves people questioning whether or not it will get better.
Student and teacher Esmeralda Carrillo doesn’t think it will get better anytime soon.
“1.3 trillion, how many zeros come after the 3? As stressful as it is to think of student debt amongst all of the other things we worry about as students I would like to think it’ll get better but chances are it won’t,” stated Carrillo.
The fact is that there are several ways to reduce your student loan debt, according to fastweb.com.
The issue can get better if students were more aware of what’s available to them. The CSUSB website, like many college websites in the US, informs students and dedicated a whole tab to “budget and borrow carefully” to help college graduates avoid student loan debt.
Outside sites like studentloandebt.com are specifically made to help students with the long term effects that debt may have on your future.
Although CSUSB doesn’t have a debt relief program, Director of the Financial Aid Department Roseanna Ruiz said loan servicers offer students several repayment options to assist them in being able to meet their repayment obligations so as to avoid delinquency.
“The likelihood is students don’t look for the loan relief programs because they may not be aware,” stated Ruiz.
And Ruiz is exactly right, according to CNBC.com; 43 million people in the US have student loan debt and some are eligible for loan forgiveness programs.
Along with student loan forgiveness programs, Obama created the Obama Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 for former and present students.
According to Obamacarefacts.com, the act for new borrowers after 2014 will allow past students forgiveness after making payments for 20 years, when it was previously 25 years.
Junior Mirka Larrange gasped at the fact that it can take the average student with student loans this long to pay off debt.
“That fact frightens me and that’s why I don’t have student loans,” said Larrange. “My friends take out loans right now and don’t feel the effects, but they will feel it later in life.”
Department Chair of Accounting and Finance at CSUSB, Dr. Taewon Yang, has mixed thoughts on student loans and the personal strains that they cause on students for a short-term period after college.
“Getting a student loan with help with the long term investment of a students future, but as for now students suffer short term financial uncomfortability,” said Yang.
Sometimes this short-term uncomfortability can lead to life setbacks. In an Interview done by Forbes.com, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics Mark Zandi shared his thoughts on the issue.
“An increasingly heavy financial weight on twentysomethings means they are starting families later, buying homes later and it’s taking longer for them to save,” said Zandi.
According to a survey done by American Student Assistance (ASA) on Forbes.com, 63 percent of past students were held back by student loan debt when it came to large purchases such as a car.
College senior Teuila Palm said she was overwhelmed by how student loans will affect her the minute she gets out of college.
“I’m thinking of the life that I want, but with the loans I’m thinking of the life I might not have. I won’t really reap the benefits of my degree for the first couple of years,” said Palm.
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