The topic of steadily rising tuition rates is always a concern for any college student, especially since the U.S. has one of the most expensive educational systems in the world.
There is a financial bubble in the world of higher education — students are continuing to borrow to pay for their education entrusting they will receive a big return of income when they graduate and land that good paying job. But what if they don’t? Remember the housing crisis? Do you remember what caused the housing bubble to burst?
Well, just as home prices tanked, so did the job market. The unemployment rate is still staggering. It is easy to think in your first, second, or even third year of college that this may never happen to you, but according to the Washington Post, only 27 percent of college grads have a career in their major. The odds are stacked against you.
The average monthly payment on student loans, which begins six months after graduation from a four-year institution, is $200-300 a month depending on tuition rates. A job at Starbucks is probably not going to cover that along with your other living expenses. So what does this mean? Well, it could mean you are now part of the vicious cycle: you can’t find a good job, so you can't pay your student loans, so your credit is ruined, so no one wants to hire you.
Does this sound like an unrealistic possibility? Try again — according to the Federal Education Budget Project a total of 6.8 million recipients are in default out of the $1.8 trillion of student loan debt in the U.S. Remember the entrance counseling you completed prior to receiving your Federal Aid? Remember as you rolled your eyes as they explained what can happen to you if you default on your loans? Well, it’s happening.
So what do you do to keep this from happening to you? It's simple: work hard. Keep your grades up. Employers want to know what your GPA was in college, and it is suggested that you put it on your résumé. Intern-up — don’t be that guy or gal who has no job experience after you graduate. Don’t be cheap — pay off your student loan interest; it is in most cases really cheap but adds up significantly over time. Don’t fall for student credit card scams — just because it's just for you doesn’t mean that you should have it. Yes, this is the time you should be building your credit but it is the most crucial time to keep your credit in good order.
When you do land that awesome internship, do what celebrity financial advisor Suze Orman suggests to college students: “Get there every day early and stay late every day. Do everything they ask you to do, and everything they don’t — work hard and never complain.” If you work hard enough, your internship may turn into a full-time career. It is a tough world out there.
We can complain as much as we want to about tuition costs but just like inflation, they are always going to rise. It is better to prepare yourself because in the U.S. there is no such thing as a cheap education and bankruptcy will not be there to save you.
Reach the columnist at Michelle.Bryan@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @ChellyLynnBryan
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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