I find it almost hilarious that President Bush’s new budget calls for a cut in student loans.
As a graduating senior at California Lutheran University, I am one of many students who will graduate asking one simple question: “Where is a job that pays enough for me to live and still pay off my student loans?�
Here is a little newsflash to President Bush: Students in college are not taking out loans for fun. No one enjoys going to the financial aid office and listening to someone explain over and over how you have to pay this money back. No one enjoys the government using my parents’ income as a basis for whether I received a loan with or without interest while I am in school; obviously, if my parents had all the money to send me to school, I would not be taking out a loan. Over the past four years of my college experience, I have watched my loan debt grow and grow to reach an amount that I explain with, “I will pay off eventually.�
I suppose I should consider myself lucky. My loan interest rate has only been around 4 percent for the years I have been in college. But what should I say to the person sitting next to me in my classes, whose interest rate will automatically jump to 6.5 percent as of July 1?
I have heard some members of Congress say, “This bill will only help students by creating more competition.� Have any of these members gone down to the local bank as a 20-year-old student, without a stable income, owning nothing of value, and asked to borrow $20,000? Or even $10,000? Let me tell you what the banks say: “Do you have a co-signer?� Wonderful! Put my parents, grandparents, neighbors or friends further into debt to fund my education — the education that I funded myself last year.
After I graduate in May, I will have six months to find a job and begin to pay off my student loan debt for the next 10 to 15 years. During that time, I will also be paying rent, buying groceries, paying for transportation cost, covering healthcare costs, and, of course, saving for retirement. I’ll do all of that on a typical entry-level salary. Anyone know where a money tree is?
I know a college education is still worth something. But I have to wonder how many people are going to see their new loan rate, request for a co-signer, or the overwhelming cost of a college education as just another roadblock.
— Amanda Walker, Camarillo
It is interesting that California has some of the best education opportunities (at least on the college level) of any other state. I was able to go back to school and have all of my tuition paid for because my financial situation qualified me for it, whereas in any other state I would not have qualified.
How is it that the STATE of California can do this? If you are a poor immigrant, a returning student, or just don't have the additional money for classes, California will help you pay for the fees. It is because the state has made it a priority and imposed the taxes to accomplish their agenda. The states are good at such things, whereas the Federal Government is not. The Federal Government should not do the things that the states are better equipped to handle.
if one likes to sled - he has to like to drive the sledge