For the first time, I felt bummed out for pursuing a higher education. Students from a big-name Boston area university weighed in on a recent crime on the evening news, making comments that can be summarized as, ‘Wow. This felt like a safe place. This feels like my second home’. I was immediately concerned for the safety of the students, reminding me of my bright-eyed days as an undergraduate (I’m a grad student). However, my concern turned to the price tag those poor students are likely paying to live in their “second home” of metro Boston, which has the highest rents in the country and averages $2,000 per month according to a Boston Magazine article (Quinn, 2016). The thinking contradicted my fervor for learning and admiration of scholarship tracing back to grade school. Instantaneously and proudly I declare myself a full-time student when catching up with family and friends. If need be, I stay in on Saturdays to do schoolwork (really). Still, I can’t help but ponder whether the students in the newscast and myself should be bummed out, and more mindful of the price of education.

Without question, in purest conception, the value of education is priceless (remember the Chinese proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”). Yet, deb cannot be excluded when discussing the current state of higher education in America, both in public and private institutions. Collateral damage from the discussion might be students’ positive regard toward their institutions, and perhaps education itself. Financial fears are potential players in tainting high school grads while they are weighing out the benefit of the “college experience” (however you’d like to define it) against the accompanying loan repayment that is likely to stretch into “old age” (however you’d like to define that). It cannot be ignored that some students are fortunate enough to graduate debt free, perhaps through familial support, scholarships, or grants. But, many students whose family income are too high to qualify for financial aid will still be unable to pay the full costs outright, and students who work to pay their way must diligently compensate for sacrificing academic time and attention.

It can be argued that the idealistic view of higher education has been somewhat bogged down with the unearthing of over-arching negative phenomena. This discussion lets alone social debates, such as rape culture, athlete privilege, or discrimination issues that often periodically reignite, unfortunately, at the behest of tragedy and are usually followed by underwhelming reform efforts. Furthermore, according to The Atlantic, high-school graduates are increasingly forgoing traditional four-year colleges for skills training or immediate entrance into the workforce, despite increases in high-school completion rates and federal aid to lower-income families (Wong, 2016). Rather than tragic issues that arise without warning, a major issue lies in that students are consistently faced with the anxiety-provoking debt they amass with each passing year, semester, day in class. Across institutions or geography, student debt in the U.S. has increased 226% since 1980 (Toboni, n.d.).

Lawmakers (like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren) and activists (like the Debt Collective) are taking notice. Discussion has yet to solve the problem, or even provide tangible relief for nearly an entire generation of saddled with completed degrees and debt repayment, or those in the midst of current coursework and active loans. It is in the best interest of students to become self-informed rather than wait for an outside solution. For example, the federal Parent PLUS Loan, allowing families to borrow loans to help cover school costs, has recently been called into question in an article by the Boston Globe, in a feature that insinuates that the financial institutions offering this loan set up families to overextend themselves and the cost will ultimately become too great for family and student alike (Swidey, 2016). Incoming collegiate students, and their support systems, may also consider the benefits of beginning their first years of study at a community college, though these too have recently increased tuition rates. Consideration could be given to living at home and attending an in-state college or university, in order to avoid incurring extra loans to cover housing costs. When criteria are met, Public Service Loan Forgiveness can be achieved for those employed in public service jobs after graduation (for a list of qualifying employers: US Department of Education website). Veterans can apply for educational benefits, which may even include housing and graduate programs depending on circumstance (Apply through the VA: Education and Training).

Through an extremist’s lens, navigating student debt seems to be a complicated process which is somehow still steeped in mystery and treachery, taking amazing foresight and years of planning. It might be easy to become disheartened or reconsider the worth of higher education. Ironically, it may be education concerning one’s realistic financial limits and expectations of future employment, which will lead to budgeting decisions that save grads from feeling ripped off. Though looking at debt as a whole is intimidating, and for many a numerical burden we’re already stuck with, the student debt crisis should serve to abolish the cliché that “one size fits all”. Driving off to college in a car stuffed with dorm furniture, waving goodbye to crying parents is a scene from some movie I can’t quite remember. Back here, in reality, regardless of age or circumstance, students today will serve themselves best to think carefully and truthfully about what the future looks like, before signing the dotted line of student debt; possibilities include trade schools, entering the workforce, community college, traditional four-year college or university, returning for a degree later in life, military service, anything, everything.

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The HBO docu-series "VICE" recently featured the student debt crisis, and can be viewed as a subscriber to the channel or through its HBO On Demand HBONOW or HBO GO services. Here is a preview: