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.
Online degree -- class size of thousands, or tens of thousands, grade the classwork and tests by computer. (If you want the luxury of a more personalized college experience, complete with exercise spa, gourmet meals and bowls of free condoms, you can still buy it for $200,000.)
($28,565 at UMassdoesn't seem bad. How much is the average new car loan?)
I said I totally agree, let's start now, chip in the 50¢ you earned ringing me up.
Of course she objected.
So you deserve the 50¢ you earned taking my money, but the farmer who made all the investments, took all the risks, the farm workers who harvested the crops, the truckers who moved them, the factory workers who processed them, the distributors who distributed them, your coworkers who stocked the shelves don't deserve what they earned?
Got it.
Probably you’d want something better than the SAT or ACT, more like British A-Levels or the U. Tokyo entrance exam. I was rather hoping each university would design its own entrance exam, maybe its own entrance exam for each degree program, but your suggestion would be a start.
Yes, but what thew idiot doesn’t understand is the same government that “paid” for his education decides WHO gets to go to college.
We find that online classes are devastating to GPA’s. Too many students dog them because there is no structure.
It’s one of the reasons that online schools have an abysmal graduation rate. It takes a solid commitment to finishing the classes.
And then came here so he wouldn’t have pay the taxes for the next guy getting his Masters on the taxpayer’s dime.
NOTHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS TO PAY FOR IS A RIGHT.
I get online classes for free. I took an online class on Java and quit about 1/4 through the class. I ended up teaching myself Java.
I enrolled at Gonzaga University, which at that time ran $10K-$12K a year, today it's upwards of $40K per year. Gonzaga has an excellent engineering school, though I majored in accounting.
There's millions out there in scholarships, but it takes a lot of effort.
I've got a very good idea what college costs today. My youngest starts HS next year, and we have enough saved up for at least 3 years of college. He knows it's not a blank check, he may do his first two years at community college.
“A person that graduates form college makes more money and pays more taxes.”
True for those that find work. Other’s end up in jobs (maybe) that they could have gotten with out the college and the debt that goes along with it.
I had this exact discussion with a buddy the other evening. It’s quite the topic among the lib/socialists on social media. Bernie really has them hopping. The idea is “a good liberal arts program for all, would improve society”.
It’s a horrible idea, and the reasons could fill wikipedia.
AlmaKing as things change things still remain the same. My undergrad engineering degree cost $5000 the first year and $8000 by the last year. There were rich kids who didn’t have to work and had plenty of time to study back then as well. There were also plenty of foreign students with lots of money and time. I unfortunately (actually fortunately) had to work (30 hours a week) and commuted to school. During the breaks I would work 70 hours a week. I learned to budget my time and my money. I treated school like a job by not wasting free time and spending that time in the library. The rich and foreign students who didn’t need to work were not the real competition. The real competition were the other guys like me which included a large percentage of Asian students. Those who had the drive and ambition are the ones who succeed especially in engineering. The best engineers are typically the ones who start as techs and go to night school. Due to outsourcing this path is disappearing. Look to China for the next engineers.
Life?
Don’t hire this guy!
Half of you are telling me that in his home country entrance to college is so incredibly competitive, very few get in. And the rest are telling me that they take EVERYBODY and the degrees are worthless.
So....which it it?
And he administrators ... who really make the big buck and whose ranks are swelling.
This is not activism
With a major in industrial espionage, and a minor in engineering...
How about if all of the profs work for free and relinquish their $200K per year salaries because most of them believe in socialism anyway.
Then we can start talking about free education.
You have a right to be stupid, dear...but I have no interest in paying for you to get that way.
College should be free for American STEM students with a B average. That would help the country immensely. That and kill H-1B.
I have to object. Those guys aren’t marching for free college education. Any college education they get as a result of that march, they EARNED.
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