Nothing kills a buzz quite like debt. And for many graduating college students, the sobering… Nothing kills a buzz quite like debt. And for many graduating college students, the sobering effects of impending financial ruin are enough to steer them away from jobs they care about in favor of those that bring in bigger bucks. USA Today reports that undergraduates borrow an average of $19,300 to earn their bachelor’s degrees.

While debt is a growing problem facing college graduates in the United States, not everyone is turning a blind eye. Davidson College announced yesterday that it was replacing loans with grants and work study in its need-based financial aid packages, as part of a larger initiative to reduce debt in its graduate population. Davidson isn’t the only school to do this either.

Though most schools offering students alternatives to loans are small, private schools and elite universities like Princeton, Columbia, Harvard and Yale, even public universities like the University of North Carolina have taken student debt into consideration. UNC no longer forces its “neediest students” to acquire loans, according to the Associated Press. Many of these schools tap their endowments or launch capital-raising campaigns, similar to Pitt’s “Discover a World of Possibilities” campaign, geared to offset the costs of additional grants and work-study positions.

Often the decisions students make regarding their careers right after graduation have a significant impact on shaping the rest of their lives. Davidson President Robert Vagt expressed concern for students who were pressured into making tough decisions about employment because of debt.

“[Debt] forces them into a career decision,” Vagt said in the article. “They took higher-paying jobs rather than jobs they had their hearts set on.”

And often these are the jobs that are the most beneficial to our communities. Few debt-ridden graduates are eager to accept low-paying jobs as teachers, social workers or positions at non-profit organizations. With more and more students accruing debt during their college years, there are increasingly fewer people for the jobs we need the most in our communities.

It’s frightening to think about starting out life after college under the oppressive weight of mounting debt. It’s also making post-graduate education less and less appealing for many graduates. More colleges and universities should take a cue from Davidson and UNC and work to reduce the amount of loans their students are forced to take out. It’s possible to raise the money – we can look to the success of our own campaign here at Pitt to see that.

We hope that in the coming years, universities across the United States, including Pitt, make a noticeable contribution to curb debt among its students. Not only would it free up more money for alumni to pump back into their alma maters, but it would also help graduates look more optimistically toward their futures and more favorably at their time spent in college.