Posted on 04/11/2016 1:03:32 PM PDT by pabianice
My student debt surrounds me like the construction on the University of Massachusetts campus; no matter how hard I try to avoid it, it shows up everywhere. It keeps me from getting to class on time, it ripped a hole in my backpack and it just puts me in a terrible mood. Like the construction, my student debt affects my every decision: what books I buy for classes versus which ones I can access for free, the amount of hours I work to pay my rent and if I can even continue my education at UMass. You can get rid of the Hasbrouck fence, but student loans are for life.
Lucas Coughlin, another Collegian writer, claimed in his op-ed on Jan. 26, 2016 that college should not be free. I disagree. Higher education is a right. Free higher education would take the burden off students (and non-students) while providing access to good paying jobs and economic advancement to people whose family wealth or personal financial circumstances do not allow them access to college without a life-long debt sentence. The total amount of student debt in the United States surpassed $1.3 trillion in 2015 and the UMass class of 2015 graduated with an average of $28,565 in debt. The burden of student debt makes going into the job market post-college extremely stressful.
The problem with higher education now is that it is becoming less and less accessible due to skyrocketing costs and wage stagnation at the time when more folks need it. Colleges need to be more accessible and turn into a viable option for students instead of something that’s immediately out of the question, or is an unattainable goal. Low income students and students of color are less likely to afford the rapid rise in the cost of higher education, and this limits opportunities for a huge number of potential college students.
To clarify, when I talk about free higher education, I mean completely free: four years of tuition-free public higher education as well as access to free food, housing, books and any other cost necessary. Right now, one-third of UMass students currently work on campus, which does not include the residential assistants and peer mentors in Residential Life or off-campus jobs. The total number of students who work at UMass is significantly higher, and many of these students rely on their jobs to stay in school. Even with those jobs, students are still accumulating debt.
If higher education were free, low-income and working class students wouldn’t have to chose between working long hours at low-wage jobs to help finance their education, which often distracts from and jeopardizes their education. Many opponents of free higher education argue that students need to “work hard” and “earn their way” for a mediocre paying job after graduation and that current college students think we’re entitled to everything. Last semester, I was working 40 hours a week – some labor unpaid – and ended up with the worst GPA I’ve ever had in my academic career. My student debt is around $45,000 right now, and I don’t know how I’ll be able to pay that off with an 11-percent interest rate. I am struggling, and many other students are struggling as well. How is that entitlement when we’re just trying to get by?
Coughlin thinks students can get their higher “education degree cheaply” in today’s society. He suggests students should “attend junior colleges for a year or two, or attend a commuter school.” But what happens when these students move to universities to complete the remainder of their four-year degrees? What I want to ask Coughlin is if he and his family always considered college as an option? How many hours does he work a week? Does he work for spending money or to pay bills? Has he ever had to decide between paying rent and textbooks? Does he struggle under the weight of loans he’ll carry for decades after graduation?
Now I ask you, Coughlin, do you understand why higher education should be free? Students across the United States are demanding it and taking direct action for this to become a reality. Higher education needs to be free so students can go to college instead of being funneled into low-wage jobs with little chance for economic mobility. Higher education needs to be free so undocumented folks, who can’t even access federal financial aid, can attend college without paying from pocket. Higher education needs to be free so students can finally become learners, and not consumers and products of a privatized system.
Erika Civitarese is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at ecivitarese@umass.edu.
I worked part time at the post office while I got my associate degree. My oldest brother worked at McDonald Douglas while earning a bachelor and a law degree. My wife worked a 40 hour a week factory job while getting her bachelor (teaching) degree. Total student debt. $-0-
In my experience, the best engineers have spent a few years in the military. They have the technical foundation and the discipline.
UMASS ... figures
She didn’t mention the magical unicorns to pay for it
School should be free - what, so they can spend 4 more years skipping school so they don’t be all ‘actin’ white’?
“Half of you are telling me that in his home country entrance to college is so incredibly competitive, very few get in.”
I didn’t, so post that to somebody else.
And that’s socialism.....
I'm not suggesting that free college would or even should be good as the full-price product. I'm suggesting that if the gov't wanted free college to be offered without adding much if anything the budget, it could.
If you are one of the 3% that actually manages to earn the free degree, it should say a lot to any prospective employer. There really is no other way to offer free college to everyone. I'm eligible for Social Security, and I'd stop working and go for free bricks-mortar-beer college even now! College was mostly wasted on me when I was a teenager.
lol for real at your tag line!
Coined by Robert Heinlein in his novel The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, and also used in several of his other novels as well..................
I suggest all student loans be co-signed
by the college endowment plan assets.
There! Problem solved.
Of COURSE because so many kids take advantage of “Free” K-12 and do such a great job there. Just look at Los Angeles Unified, half of the kids actually graduate and some even know the three R’s! It works for K-12 and only costs $125,000 per kid, let’s all contribute for “Free” college too!!
Should have taken a basic money management course for free on youtube then you most likely wouldn’t have 10s of thousands of dollars in debt. Also...Wake your ass up earlier and you’ll get to class on time.
how about everything I ‘purchase’ from here on out be free? Don’t i deserve to have everything handed to me with absolutely no responsibility on my part?
[[Every time you try and counter that argument, one of them points out to you that the guy on the H1B visa working in the cube next to him got his Masters Degree for free in his home country.]]
You mean the dirt poor home country that they fled from because of the crippling poverty there?
Free College?
So the faculty at the institutions will not be drawing a pay check? /sarc
I always counter it with: It’s only free when the faculty doesn’t draw a pay check.
So our little Erika is studying Communications. Yesterday was her 21st birthday. From her Facebook page, she is an activist for $15 minimum wage, and works for the Center for Education Policy. She appears to be a future COmmunity Organizer or Social Justice Warrior.
Here is a simple solution to lower college costs. Go to your professors and demand they take a 75% pay, benefits and retirement cut. Demand their yearly cost of living increases be suspended indefinitely. Demand the same for administrators and demand their numbers of be reduced 75%. Demand the elimination of all humanities and social science classes, especially gender and ethnic studies departments. Where feasible janitorial/facilities/food service work will be done by students. It will reduce costs immensely.
4 more years to skip school so they are not “acting white”
Fine with me. Let's make all education free. We could reduce the amount of taxes we pay now in support of education to zero. While we're at it, let's make everything the taxpayers currently pay for..... free.
Never mind that there a state university 20 miles from where she lives where she could commute and greatly reduce her costs, but why should she have to suffer when we alllllll can.
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