
There is no doubt that higher education is an essential investment for many people but is it worth the cost? Millions of students graduate from colleges across the country every year and the last thing these new graduates are worrying about is the thousands of dollars that they are in debt. A researched analysis on the increasing tuition rates creates a huge problem; that college graduates are unable to transition into adulthood effectively due to the economical strain of paying back college debt (Impact of Student Debt on the Daily Lives of Young Americans). There are some serious long term effects that college debt will have on you after graduation. The increasing rate in tuition is a major problem and will continue to increasing exponentially. If this trend continues in 2028 college students will be expected to pay anywhere from 95,000-$340,800 depending on the university (Long-Term Effects of Student Debt, REL). This is not the kind of price tag that we want to put on the following generations.   

According to US News, tuition has grown 226 percent in the past twenty years. In 1995, a public out of state university cost about $7,000 per year it has increased to $24,000 per year in 2015 (US News, Lanza) This is a big change in tuition for families and college-bound students in the United States. Unfortunately, families do not realize how expensive college is until they get their first tuition statement. Most families do not have $25,000 saved up to pay for college the burden can cause stress on students and families. Due to the increasing tuition rates students are forced to take out loans that they will have to pay back when they graduate. 71% of college graduates take out some type of loan in the four years that they are in college. According to, “The Institute for College Access and Success” the average debt of a college graduate in 2015 was $30,100, with the steady increase of tuition this number will increase even more. (TICAS).

Student debt will not only effect your lifestyle right after you graduate, but it will have an even greater impact 50 years down the road when you are ready to retire. In an article titled “How student debts hit your retirement a research” economist Anthony Webb, describes that “if working Americans of all ages had the same student debt exposure as recent college graduates, the impact would be similar to that of increasing the normal Social Security retirement age from 65 to 67” (Holland).  Basically what Webb is trying to say is that the amount of debt that a recent graduate will obtain will affect the age that they will be able to retire comfortably.

The correlation between increase in tuition and college debt has a big strain on graduates and ultimately sets them back in society after they graduate. There are several major setbacks that graduates face but one of the biggest one is the inability to take out a loan for a house or a car because of the tremendous amount of debt that is tied to their name. A study done by the American Student Assistance, a nonprofit group surveyed conducted a reoccurring study on the impact of student debt on recently graduated students. The survey concluded that 52% of respondents said that the debt that they had affected their ability to make larger purchases such as a car or home (ASA, Executive Summary). An ASA respondent from 2015 explained that, “my husband and I have been married for almost 7 years and have continued for almost 7 years and have continued to rent up to this point. If it was not for my student loan debt, we could have purchased a home at this point” (ASA, 7). This is a common issue among graduates single and married. 

Due to the recent recession and housing sales have been very slow and many graduates; prospective buyers are not eager to jump in and purchases a house to increase their debt even more. 55% of respondents agreed that their personal student debt affected their decision on purchasing a house (ASA, Executive Summary). The main reason graduates are so hesitant to be a part of the housing market is because of their debt-to-income ratio and also not being able to save up for a down payment because they are still repaying their loans. One respondent even commented, “my student loan payments are equivalent of a mortgage payment” (ASA, 7). A graduate’s monthly payment to pay back loans should not be anywhere close to the monthly mortgage payment. Another study done by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reiterates that there are less people with student loan debt that are willing and able to purchase a home when compared to people with no student loan debt and their willingness to purchase a house or take on a mortgage.  Many graduates face the hardship of being denied a loan because they have acquired too much student loan debt. How are the future generations supposed to settle down and feel an economic security and just excited about first-time ownership if they are unable to even start saving a down payment because they are overwhelmed with student loan debt.  

Another problem that graduates run into is not being able to find a job right out of college.  46% of respondents in the ASA survey said that they had to take a job that does not require their college degree in order to pay their bills on time (ASA, 4). With that being said 40% of respondents agreed that recent graduates took a job that provided higher pay, but less satisfaction in order to be able to continue to pay their student loans off. Student loans have a bigger impact on career and society as a whole then we would like to admit. The amount of loans has forced graduates to be less innovative and entrepreneurship due to the fear of not being able to make enough money at the end of the week. According to the study done by the American Student Associate (ASA), “Job regret leads to apathy, low motivation, and poor employee performance” (ASA, 6).  The University of Wisconsin- Madison conducted a study of 1,006 men in public and private 2 and 4 year colleges and universities. The survey found out that men were more likely to take jobs with high incomes to quickly decrease debt but the job had a low growth rate in the company. It is sad that we are at a point where graduates have to choose between what they are passionate and an occupation that will pay the bills at the end of the week. As a society we could easily be missing out on the future doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs. 

College debt will also affect marriage and the family dynamic. Many graduates put off marriage and starting a family this delay in marriage puts a hindrance on the economic stability for future generations. Student loans are creating economic security. The average age of marriage in 1965 was 23 years old for men and 21 years old for women (ASA, 10). Today that average has for men is 29 years old and for woman is 27 (ASA, 10). One of the reasons for this is that couples want to try and focus on trying to get financially stable before taking the next step. 

Student loan debt doesn’t just impact students; it impacts the economy as a whole. According to student loan hero, “44 million Americans have student debt about seven million are also in student loan default as of last year” (Kirkham). Student loan default means that a student has not paid their debt for an entire year due to whatever financial struggles. This effects the economy in a big way, the 44 million Americans that are struggling with their student debt are less likely to be “spending on other economy-boosting good or services” (6 ways your student debt ultimately hurt the economy, Kirkham). Kirkham explains with a survey how student loan debt lowers spending by saying that “half of student loan borrowers have put off buying a car because of their student debt according to a survey from last year” (6 ways your student debt ultimately hurt the economy, Kirkham). Another big impact that effects both the economy and the graduates is that student debt holds back new business, according to the 2015 Gallup Purdue Index one in five graduates say that their student loans are holding them back from starting a business. By limiting business, we are slowly losing the innovative minds of our generations. The U.S was built on innovative minds and it would be a crime to try and stop that due to graduates facing student debt. It is important that we try, together as a country to come up with a solution and to really try and fix this problem in order to build our country back up with innovators and students who want to go to college. 

The rising costs of tuition is a real problem and the people that are suffering from these are the future generations of our country. The federal as well as state governments need to come up with a solution before this problem gets any worse.  The first major solution to help this crisis is to have the governments support in order to provide more grants for students to decrease the amount of college debt after graduation. There should also be a plan that is put in place for students who work, a portion of their paycheck should be saved for a tuition account, which can be accessed when college is started and only for things such as college tuition, textbooks, supplies, room and board and other necessary items to get through college. This approach will offset the amount of debt that a student would accumulate at the end of their four years. It is important that the interest rates for student loans are low. Many students do not realize that the loans that they take out will accrue interest and therefore be even more expensive than anticipated.  According to the ASA, “it is estimated that the federal government profits $127 billion from student borrowers” (ASA, 14). The government should not be allowed to profit this much money off of graduates who are just trying to better themselves and get a degree to hopefully us in the workforce. 

This is not only a problem with federal government but also with our state government, it is important that we increase state funding to help with offsetting high tuition. In an article by TIME magazine, Terry Hartle, a senior vice president of the American Council on Education says that “prices are rising faster than inflation because states have been cutting taxpayer support for public collages” (Clark). Clark also discusses that according to the ASA, “the rise in tuition at public colleges and universities is a direct result if shrinking state budgets, which have cut support to higher education”.We hear it all the time that college is an essential need and that we need to push future generations to go, but why would we if they will be stuck in a cycle trying to pay student debt twenty or thirty years down the road.

The opposing side may suggest that student debt can be a great way to start your credit score in order to be able to make bigger purchases. Where this may be a good idea in the beginning it can go downhill very quickly. Recent graduates will have a lot of bills and adding another monthly payment on a credit card may not be the best idea. If you miss a payment, or several payments your credit score will slowly plummet and will follow for a very long time. Bad or low credit can stop you from getting approved for a loan for a house or car. 

My position is that college debt negatively affects college graduates by making it more difficult have an adult life after college. By being strapped down with student debt it is harder to purchase a car, own a home, get married, start a family and live the American dream that every college student is supposed to be offered. The government has not tried to fix this problem and the longer we let tuition and college skyrocket the bigger the mess will get and will soon become a national problem that will never get solved. I have gained a lot of statistical evidence from my sources which will help me show that student debt does in fact have a negative effect on college students. Several of my sources from above have studies that have been done on college students and have shown that a substantial amount of college students is unable to purchase cars and homes due to the debt they have accumulated trying to further their education. Students do not even want to further their education because they do not want to be tied down with 30 years of debt to get a degree. 

We could be missing out on future doctors, scientists, artists, and economists simply because their fear that they will never be able to live comfortably and payback all of their loans. Now a day’s jobs look at your credit score and some graduates are not able to get a job because their cards are all maxed out trying to payback their loans, how are they supposed to when they get even get a well-paying job. College should not cost $40,000; it shouldn’t even cost $10,000 but the greed of money will soon destroy us as a country. College graduates should not suffer because they decided to further their education they should be able to graduate and live a happy life. 
