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.
He probably maxed out a half dozen credit cards. What, I have to pay those back too?
“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.”
Except in his home country their college in NOTHING compared to ours. They basically get the degree with no effort.
In the USSR, college was free. Of course, only those who were obviously very bright, or those with political connections, or those token minorities could go, and then only study in fields chosen by the central planners. All the rest would go to skills schools, if that was approved. A person like the author of this article would probably end up being a file clerk in the Ministry of Agriculture office in Kazakhstan, which is probably better than the latte server he will be.
One of the issues with the current loan debts are the people who have signed up to local community colleges, or college of hairdressing or college of car repair....
and didn’t have the ability to hack them.
There are a lot of street sweepers who were accepted at “college” (remember Clinton required every training school to turn into a “college” to receive funding) and used college monies to live life without studies who are now walking away from loans.
This is the mortgage loan debacle writ large for college loans.
If there was no such thing as PROFIT, everything would be FREE!
For the greater good, of course.
Oh, and consider the money saved because the students don’t have to leave their home and pay living expenses elsewhere...
Master’s degrees in electrical engineering are not accepted from other countries in the semiconductor industry. I don’t know what industry you’re talking about.
I think all college professors should work for free.
Goodness this is tiresome. Why should I have to pay for some snowflake to spend time on a college campus, smoking pot, hanging out and allegedly taking classes, but those classes rarely lead to anything productive? And, what are the limits to this free college, and explain why? Can someone work on their basket weaving or lesbian studies for 5 years? 6 years? 10 years? forever? Masters and Doctorates too?
At 18, you are an adult. Make your choices and live the results. Want to go to college - that’s your problem.
“Four years in the Marine Corps will help them with those college expenses.
What makes you think this pathetic dweeb can handle four nanoseconds in the Marine Corps?
“
Today’s little snowflakes would ball into a corner of the bus and cry the instant the DI came on board and started his routine.
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.
_____________
and here he is.
This is a UMass student, they are exempt from “natural law”.
No, that will set them 4 years back and in even worse shape with no experience in the field of the degree.
Not economics.
OK, most ECON departments are socialist, so maybe she is majoring in economics. Not math.
And what is the acceptance rate in his country? In other countries, if you do not have what it takes to achieve (IQ plus evidence of studying hard) you do not get in.
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.
Master’s degrees in electrical engineering are not accepted from other countries in the semiconductor industry.”
Seeing these people in college I can say I WILL NEVER accept one of their “degrees”. In their country, students get the answers to exams and plagiarism is the norm. No one writes their own papers, they pay for them and they copy each other.
Food should be free. People need it to survive, so it isn't right that only the wealthy can afford fine dining. Prime cuts of steak, lobster, organic vegetables, and a nice bottle of wine should just be free so I don't have to make tough decisions about how hard to work to be able to afford these things.
Guns and ammo should be free. The second amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. It isn't fair that they are so expensive. We should get them for free so that we don't have to make tough choices about which ones we can best afford.
Music downloads should be free. It isn't fair that the rich recording companies should be able to charge me money just to enjoy the latest tunes.
Is this starting to sound ridiculous? You want to know when it started sounding ridiculous? It was with this inane statement from your rambling little screed: "Higher education is a right."
Sorry, but higher education is NOT a right, anymore than the latest cinematic offering from Hollywood is a "right". You must pay for consuming any commodity you want, whether it is 3 hours worth of propaganda masquerading as entertainment or whether it is 4 years of indoctrination masquerading as education. Nobody owes you an education or a job or anything else in life. The sooner you learn that, the more successful you will be.
“I counter with: perhaps you should move to his home country and take advantage of “free college” “
Best answer yet.
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