For Alissa Carlson the answer is a resounding yes. Alissa, a 2007 Warrensburg High School graduate, is completing her studies at SUNY Potsdam this spring. Along with a Bachelor’s degree, this 22 year-old will walk away from college with $40,000 of debt, an accumulation of subsidized and unsubsidized Federal student loans.
It is an axiom in the canon of financial literacy that student loan debt is good debt, an investment that will be made back many times over with future earnings. This was before the financial crash of 2008 and an unemployment rate that hovers around nine percent. Combined with the soaring costs of college attendance, many students step off the commencement ceremony dais into a financial nightmare.
An off-shoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Occupy Student Debt Campaign, is seeking relief for students burdened by debt they may have to work a lifetime to repay. Some are asking that student loans no longer be excluded from bankruptcy protection, some want to see lower interest rates, some are asking for loan forgiveness. Banks were bailed out, the rationale goes, students should be bailed out as well. In this climate, students entering college are wary. Signing those promissory notes could doom them to years of financial struggle.
Alissa has no regrets, “I can’t put a monetary value on the college experience. I have grown so much as a writer. I think differently now, critically. I’ve learned how to analyze media and issues; I’ve learned management skills. I don’t think I could have learned this with experience alone.”
Under the provisions of her student loans, she will begin repayment six months after graduation. She estimates her payments, which will be spread over ten years, to be about $350 a month. She admits to feeling trapped by the debt – “If I have to choose between a low-paying job that I would really like or a higher paying, less interesting job, I think I would have to go with the money.” She recognizes that a low-paying job may be all she can find, “I’ll just have to continue living like a college student for a few more years ...” meaning she will continue her frugal lifestyle, “but I won’t eat Ramen Noodles - I have to look after my health!”
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