Student loans are both a blessing and a curse to college
students all across the country. On one hand, student loans allow you to have
the money you need in many cases to attend college at all. On the other hand,
most college students, particularly those entering college for the first time
have inflated opinions of their starting salaries upon graduation and the bills
they will face while living in the real world. In fact, most freshmen college
students have no real concept of the limits of money in which to base their
decisions as to whether or not they can realistically expect to repay those
funds once they've graduated college.
The sad truth is that many college graduates find that for
the first 10-15 years after they have graduated college, they are essentially
indentured servants to their student loan debts. There are many reasons for
this and different college graduates will find different things about their
student loans when the appropriate time comes. First of all, those taking out
student loans need to understand that a college degree does not guarantee a
high starting salary. Beyond that, a college degree is no guarantee that there
will be employers lining up to take your name and number upon graduation. The
truth is that most college grads take anywhere from 6 months to a year to find
a job in their fields and even then the starting salaries are often far less
than anticipated.
Part of the blame for over-inflated expectations is the
fault of universities attempting to validate their high tuition rates by
displaying average starting salaries of only those that have successful offers
in the field of study immediately upon graduation (which usually indicates a
history of working with the company or another company as an intern prior to
being hired) and not those students who have no prior work experience in their
chosen fields. Part of the expectations is students reading job advertisements
for experienced workers in a field and assuming that an education will provide
the experience that employers require. Regardless of the reason, most starting
salary expectations are not realistic in light of the current market.
The problem is that for many students a student loan is the
difference in receiving a college education or not receiving one. For these
students, there is no option. The price they will pay (with interest) for
having student loans in order to get through the educational process will repay
itself over the course of a lifetime if they are wise about making the
necessary payments and stay on top of things such as consolidation loans and
making payments on time.
Student loans are a great tool for those who have no other
options when it comes to attending and affording to attend a university. On the
other hand, for those who do not have an absolute need for the funds a student
loan can provide they can prove to be problematic when trying to establish your
career and your lifestyle upon graduation. This is a tool for education that
should be used sparingly at best.
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