Another reason to fight the system
Students are caught in debt trap
By Stephanie Nichols
Young people in the United States are told from preschool on
that they're lucky to live in a country that provides the
opportunity to succeed at whatever they choose. No one ever
mentions how much that actually costs.
If you make it past high school and decide to further your
potential with a college education, that potential--as with
everything else under this system--is only for those with money
to pay for it.
Over the past decade, according to the College Board,
average tuition fees rose 47 percent at public four-year
colleges, and 42 percent at private ones. Just in the past
year, tuition and fees nationwide rose 14 percent.
The average state university costs $4,694 a year, plus
$5,942 more for room and board. Private colleges cost an
average of $19,710 in tuition and fees, not including $7,144
for living expenses.
The result is that the average graduate emerges from college
saddled with at least $30,000 in debt from student loans and
credit cards. Most student loans come from corporations like
Nellie Mae and Sallie Mae.
According to the 2002 National Student Loan Survey from
Nellie Mae, student loan debt had risen 66 percent since 1997.
Over the same time period, students' average income had
increased by only 8 percent.
Almost 70 percent of undergraduates take out loans to pay
for school. Three-quarters of higher-education enrollees need
to work while taking classes.
Every year, about 600,000 undergraduates drop out of
four-year schools.
Almost one in every five college and professional-school
graduates says he or she has had to change career plans because
of student debt.
Hourly wages for young college graduates have been declining
since 2001. Before that, wages for recent college graduates did
increase--by an average of 3 percent annually throughout the
1990s--but that hardly kept pace with the rise in student
debt.
A graduate with a bachelor's degree will earn at least
$20,000 more a year working full-time than a high school
graduate--but the most desirable entry-level jobs pay wages too
low for the indebted, who must give a large percentage of their
salaries to Sallie Mae or Citibank.
So in actuality, going to college with the dream of
boundless opportunity and upward economic mobility is hindered
or forfeited by a deep hole of debt and expenses. Working-class
youths who dare to strive for something better are punished by
this profit-driven system.
On top of the rising student debt, health- care premiums
increased 13.9 percent last year. Some 17.9 million people in
the United States between the ages of 18 and 34 lack even the
most basic health insurance. They make up the single big gest
bloc of the uninsured--41 percent of the country's total.
Under U.S. law, the parents have the primary responsibility
to fund a student's college education until age 24. Before
that, students are not considered financially independent and
whether they qualify for financial aid will be based on their
parents' income.
Most students entering college are fresh out of high school,
usually 18 years old. Isn't this the age when you are legally
supposed to be considered an adult, independent of your
parents? That's what the courts think. They try 18-year-olds as
adults.
Federal Pell Grants were once one of the best and most
recognized options for students needing financial aid. But,
because the Department of Education recently revised its
eligibility guidelines, 84,000 students will be excluded from
the program entirely this year. And 1.5 million more will get
reduced awards.
Young people in this country are being forced to face the
harsh reality that only a small minority is allowed financial
success. The rest must pay their dues so the rich can get
richer while the working class gets poorer.
Social reforms like free tuition and easier-to-obtain grants
and loans were won through militant working-class struggles of
the past. The existence of a bloc of socialist countries where
education and health care were free put further pressure on the
capitalist governments to compete with their revolutionary
achievements. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union,
social programs for workers in this country have been in a
steady decline.
Welfare has been eliminated, affecting young people the
most. Youth who can't afford a college education are lured into
the military to fight wars that further the grip of this
system's oppression worldwide.
The only way to change this system and get the right to an
education and health care is for youth to take the power into
their own hands, bring the struggle to the streets and demand
to be heard.
Reprinted from the Sept. 2, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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