For some young people, a college degree isn't worth the debt

When Alex, my oldest child, who identifies as non-binary, was ready to apply to college in 2022, I felt ill-equipped to help them through the process. Growing up in a low-income household, I was unprepared to figure out how to make my own college experience affordable.

I have been a single parent for 17 years. I have never earned enough income to have to pay my student loans, which total $81,000 for two degrees. I assumed I would carry the guilt to my grave.

Alex does neurodivergent – their brain processes run differently than what is considered typical for the majority of people – so we looked for schools that focused on hands-on learning, where they would have a greater chance of success. We landed at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. The application of the Western student exchange – an agreement among several public colleges in the West – reduced annual out-of-state tuition costs from $29,000 to $13,000. But even after financial assistance was provided, the remaining cost of attendance was $15,500 per year.

Alex's financial aid package included $5,500 in federal student loans – the maximum amount freshmen can take out. I was allocated the rest in the form of Parent PLUS loans, which allow parents to borrow money directly from the federal government. I was floored. After completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), my expected family contribution was zero. How could the school and lender know I had no money and still approve me for $40,000 in debt over four years?

By researching Parent PLUS loansI learned that the parent alone bears the debt, that there are fewer forgiveness options than other federal student loans, and that the loans have a current interest rate of 8.05 percent. There was no way I could draw. I'm a renter and until two years ago I didn't have a retirement account. So instead of taking out Parent PLUS loans, I took out a private loan with a much lower interest rate through my credit union. Although I had to co-sign, Alex was designated as the primary borrower.

Alex understood that this was the only option to pay for their studies, but as they struggled to adapt to student life in the years after the start of the pandemic, debt began to weigh on them. This led to them dropping out of college after two terms.

Even though they have $7,000 in loans to pay off their short stint, Alex knew the consequences of accumulating even more debt over the course of four years. I did my best to assuage their concerns, but my own student debt was not reassuring. Alex believed that even with a minimum-wage job, they could pay off their debts and continue to support themselves with jobs that didn't require a degree.

Alex is not alone in this belief. Due to the combined costs of tuition and living expenses, some young people have chosen to delay, drop out of college, or forgo college altogether to avoid student debt that could follow them for decades. a recent report from the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit provider of education reporting, showed that the number of first-year students fell 3.6 percent last fall, wiping out recent gains. In addition, the share of students who left university without a diploma increased 40.4 million from July 2021.

Although Americans question the value of college, research shows that people with college degrees typically earn nearly 75 percent more than those without. Jobs that require a degree often also come with a range of benefits: flexible working hours, paid time off, sick leave and parental leave.

But there is no clear path to those benefits. Michele Shepard, senior director of college affordability at the Institute for College Access & Success, said that while she remains confident in the value of a college degree, obtaining one is becoming increasingly inaccessible.

“If you just look at the amount of college costs covered by Pell Grants, in the late 1970s it covered about 80 percent of the average cost of a four-year college, and now it's 25 percent,” Ms. says. Shepard said.

Burnt-out

For much of her life, Soleil Revell's mother, Reina Fernandez, was a single parent working multiple jobs while raising her children on a tight budget. When it came time for Ms. Revell to go to college, a small college in her hometown of New Mexico was the most affordable option. The state offers a scholarship that covers tuition and is available to state residents who enroll in college immediately after high school and meet certain criteria. Mrs. Revell took advantage of this opportunity by attending New Mexico Highlands University and living at home to save money.

But when the pandemic hit, it became too difficult for her to keep up with online classes and the pressures of family life. Ms Revell lost her scholarship after her grade point average dropped, leaving her owing $2,700 to the school. She quit after a year and a half and moved to Albuquerque in 2021, where she now waits tables full-time and has a part-time job creating social media posts for a car dealership. She said that given the loss of the scholarship, she would have racked up $20,000 in debt if she had stayed in school.

“At first I was really driven to go to school, but after I took a break I lost that drive a bit,” says Ms Revell, 23. “My mom told me not to take a break because it will be a lot harder to go back, but I was just really burned out.”

In addition to her bills, Ms. Revell also has medical debt. She recently learned that a friend's employer is considering eliminating the degree requirement for potential new hires, so she plans to apply. It's a work-from-home job that pays more than her current role. Ms Revell said a remote position would allow her to pick up more social media gigs.

Her plan is to save enough to cover the costs of rent and tuition so she can do so without going into debt when she goes back to school. She hopes to study psychology at the University of New Mexico.

Sandy Baum, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, says it can be difficult for students to return to college after dropping out.

“For adults, it's very clear that going back to college has a lot to do with unemployment,” Ms. Baum said. “But if the economy is strong, if employment is strong, then you just get a job.”

A military alternative

Maria Han, 20, has just entered the third year of her contract with the United States Navy. Due to an unstable family life, she moved in with a classmate at the age of 16. While in high school, Ms. Han attended a accelerated program that would have helped her earn a nursing degree by the time she graduated from high school in 2021. But because she was estranged from her parents, she did not have the resources to cover the $1,500 cost of the program.

Instead, she became interested in joining the Navy as an option to pay for college when recruiters came to her school. Ms. Han is stationed in O'ahu, Hawaii, after completing a two-year fire control training course. She says she has multiple options through the Navy to earn a college degree or train in a trade. One option is to have the full cost of attending university covered by extending her contract for another five years. Another is to complete her current contract, which runs through 2027 tuition costs covered by the GI Bill of Rights when her time is up.

At this time, Ms. Han does not think she will renew her contract. “I feel like the education part of the Navy gave me the wrong idea of ​​what would actually happen,” she said. “Then I got on the boat I'm on now, and it was a big reality check. It's just a little scarier than I thought it would be.

For Ms. Han, being confined to the ship, coupled with limited connectivity to friends back home and a steep learning curve even after basic training, made the transition more challenging than she expected.

Still, Ms. Han says she doesn't know what she would have done without the Navy and that there are many other people on her boat who feel the same way. “Some people were homeless and joined the Navy, and that gave them a chance to start their lives over,” Ms. Han said.

Challenges and opportunities

There are few options for people who don't have enough income, savings or financial support to pay for college, said Laura Perna, an expert on affordability, access and success at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. “You can borrow what's available to borrow, or you can work more hours for pay, and both have different consequences,” she said.

While attending a community college is often touted as the easiest and most affordable choice for those who cannot afford higher prices to go elsewhere, it is not always a solution, especially in places where there are no local options. There are also several four-year institutions do not accept credits from the classes of the community colleges.

Ms. Perna believes that free tuition programs are an important step toward rethinking the cost of education and who is responsible for paying it.

“State governments have a role in financing public higher education through appropriations and financial assistance,” Ms. Perna said. “The federal government has a role, especially through the Pell Grant. Government should play a role considering there are so many public benefits associated with higher education, in addition to the ways in which individual participants benefit. And so I guess I'm hopeful that we can think about this in some way. Because higher education matters.”

Alex, my oldest child, is now 20, and they work in ecological monitoring making $15 an hour. It's a field they're interested in, and they see some limited paths to career advancement. But they don't see a clear path to financial security.

I'm sure part of this is because they see me continuing to struggle financially even after I get a master's degree. According to Alex, if they have to live paycheck to paycheck because of the debt they have to pay off to get a degree, they would rather avoid the debt and earn what they can without a degree.

They understand that this way still requires them to live with fewer resources, but they prefer it to the route that comes with the financial and mental weight of massive student debt.

After so many years of watching me struggle, Alex finally had the opportunity to witness some relief: In December, my loans were finally forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. I don't know if the program will last or if Alex will ever need it, but I hope it is one of many solutions that can make college more accessible to everyone.