Student debt has risen

Pitt sophomore Tabetha Chedwick needed a student loan to live on campus. She filled out a form… Pitt sophomore Tabetha Chedwick needed a student loan to live on campus. She filled out a form and received the loan – along with the details of the loan on a “big paper with tiny writing.”

As college tuition becomes increasingly expensive across the nation, a recent survey indicated that students today have more debt than students eight years ago.

And despite the importance of loans for students, many, like Chedwick, receive no help in understanding them or planning to pay for them.

“It would be nice if they’d set up a budget or monthly plan,” Chedwick said, adding that, while she wasn’t sure she would attend a class about understanding and planning for loans, she worried about the length of time it would take to pay them off.

But the rising cost of tuition does not seem to be solely responsible for the inflation of student debt – Chedwick said her loans grew only a little since last year, in spite of a 9 percent tuition increase.

Tuition for an in-state student at Pitt rose by $710 in the past year, from $8,528 in the 2002-2003 school year to $9,238 in the 2003-2004 school year. In the past 3 years, tuition has risen by $1,756.

Rising tuition costs create more student debt. A student can take out a maximum of $5,500 each semester in student loans, including subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford and Perkins loans. In 2001, 8.1 million U.S. students borrowed an average of $7,600 to finance their educations.

The amount of money borrowed for student loans does not reflect the total amount of financial aid received by the average student, as many also received money from scholarships and other sources.

Federal loans nevertheless represent almost half of the financial aid given to students.

Statistics compiled by Nellie Mae, the leading national provider of federal and private education loans, indicate the national average undergraduate debt rose by 66 percent between 1997 and 2002. The median debt level for undergraduates rose by 74 percent in the same time frame.

Graduate student debt increased 51 percent, while the median debt level for graduate students has risen 72 percent.

The survey also found that 27 percent of undergraduates used credit cards to finance part of their college educations. Those who used credit cards for that purpose also had a 20 percent higher level of education loan debt.

Student loan debt levels have risen steadily since 1988, the first year Nellie Mae conducted the borrower survey.

The 2002 survey published, in February of 2003, also reflected how borrowers perceived their education debts.

Black student borrowers express a greater perception of burden, though they also reported a lower debt-to-income ratio, and less satisfaction or belief that the benefits of borrowing were worth it, according to the survey by Nellie Mae.

However, the majority of respondents surveyed felt that the student loans were important in providing them access to higher education. Borrowing to finance higher education is a social norm, considered to be an investment in the borrower’s future, according to the company’s survey conclusion.

Chedwick seemed to agree, pointing out that she chose to pay more for college in exchange for the benefits of living on campus.

“I don’t mind that I have to pay it back later,” said Chedwick, who said she plans to attend medical school, and acquire more debt, after she graduates.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to understand the hieroglyphics” of the loan forms, she added.