With college tuition rising steadily, students across the country are finding it harder and harder to meet the financial needs to enroll. Because of this, many students rely on student loans.
According to Dana Rognlie, a Ph.D. student at University of Oregon and a member of LESS-T, a student group working to lower tuition and fight student debt, “Student Debt has exceeded credit card debt in this country, totaling over $1.1 trillion.”
For some students, the debt and loans that they have racked up are difficult to manage.
“The thought of graduating and immediately being in debt is very stressful,” Tatiana Skomski, an out-of-state student at University of Oregon expressed. “I think the amount of money I pay for tuition is ridiculously high and I worry about how my future will be affected because of it.”
Even some in-state students who don’t have to deal with as large of a financial burden as out-of-state students struggle to make ends meet.
“I specifically picked an in-state school to avoid out-of-state tuition,” said Lauren Garetto, a UO student from Medford. “But it’s still thousands of dollars every term and hard to manage.”
“Out-of-state students pay thousands of dollars more in tuition, so the university wants more of them and has an incentive to compete with other states,” Rognlie said.
As far as the UO goes, student groups like LESS-T, the National Student Debt Campaign and other activist groups have gone above and beyond to make a difference. “We are working both on how to lower tuition as well as how to deal with existing debt,” Rognlie explained.
The UO Financial Aid and Scholarship Department is doing its best to relieve some of the stress that students face.
“We use available funds to assist as many students as possible,” Director Jim Brooks expressed. “It is determining how best to use those funds to assist students with not just initial enrollment at the university, but also retention to graduation.”
With less help from the government and the recent economic state of the country, it makes sense that tuition would raise.
“Increasing student debt isn’t surprising since the federal and state governments are doing less to support education,” Brooks continued. “The economic issues we’ve faced the past few years have impacted families and their ability to pay for college. If the economy turns around, things will change.”
So what can students do to facilitate change? “We encourage students to join LESS-T, which undertakes educational and lobbying efforts, and/or the ASUO Task Force on Tuition and Fees, which is involved in the tuition setting process at UO,” advised Rognlie.
More importantly, it’s crucial for students to make sure they keep their individual loans, whether they are state or federal, to a minimum.
Brooks suggests, “I would recommend that students ensure that they keep track of their borrowing, not borrow more than they need for educational expenses and only use their student loans for those educational expenses. Create a budget and follow it.”