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  • Student loans the crushing debt

  • The cost of a college

  • education is rapidly rising, far more than the cost of inflation

  • more than even the cost of healthcare, but I don't hear a peep about it in the media

  • The policy of student loans is a total

  • failure, I mean a trillion dollars of debt?

  • The colleges need to justify what it is they're doing with our tuition dollars and our taxpayer dollars

  • It is becoming more and more and more expensive to go to college.

  • You are seeing the potential of an economically lost generation.

  • And the average debt for a college senior right now is over twenty five thousand dollars.

  • It's time for congress to stand for the rights of student loan borrowers.

  • Because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because

  • they chose to go to college.

  • I was sitting and waiting for my AP psych test and I was freaking out

  • everybody's super nervous

  • My phone rings and I'm like, "Oh it's my dad, he's totally going

  • to make me feel better."

  • He's says, "Where do you want your stuff

  • it's in the back of my truck" and I said "What do you mean?"

  • And he said, "Well Josie" (my stepmom) "told me to pick

  • you or her so where do you want your stuff?"

  • And I was like "Oh. OK, I feel like crap now."

  • So I was thinking, "What am I going to do?"

  • It was always like you're going to college no matter what, even if

  • you have to scrape gum off the ground

  • you're going to college.

  • So what I decided I'm going to go to a 4-year

  • university, I want to go a big school.

  • It wasn't until later I realized, "Oh my gosh

  • I'm paying for this."

  • I have a two thousand dollar loan, a four thousand dollar loan

  • a three thousand dollar loan and then the eighteen thousand dollar loan.

  • And then I have a school direct plus

  • that's like two thousand dollars.

  • Federal loans I think since the late seventies

  • you haven't ever been able to declare bankruptcy.

  • That's across the board on federal loans.

  • But until 2005 you could declare bankruptcy on private loans.

  • The moment that they put the bankruptcy protection in,

  • schools had no incentive to keep tuition low

  • they started to go sky-rocketing out of control because they were

  • backed by the federal government and they would always get their money, no matter what.

  • It's different than any other debt that we have, you can discharge your credit card debt

  • your home loans, your medical debt; you cannot get rid of

  • your student debt. It sticks with you forever.

  • I would like to see tuition freezes until we can figure out where

  • --you know really open up the budgets-- and see where money is going.

  • If you paid more teachers to have smaller classes, people would

  • learn so much more and the teachers would care more.

  • So they have plenty of money but it's just not

  • to subsidize the cost of education for students.

  • I don't think the students want it

  • Every school wants to compete with each other to be the most

  • prestigious, the most beautiful school, when in fact students

  • just want a simple education for as cheap as possible.

  • If you've got three classes and it's four hundred students

  • each I'm sure you're not like, "Oh let me go through everbody's test."

  • But if you just put something into it, you know, put in

  • what we put in. We really care about our grades so for you

  • to just push us to the side well then why am I even here?

  • Does the money that students put in to their

  • tuition, do they actually get it back?

  • If you look at tuition between 1979

  • and 2010, it's increased 175

  • percent in private colleges and

  • 220 percent in public universities and colleges.

  • The only problem is the ratio of professors to

  • students has stayed the same at 7 per 100

  • However the number of administrators has increased

  • from 3 to a hundred to 6 to a hundred.

  • So it appears that a lot of this extra money that students pay for

  • tuition is not going into the classroom to

  • improve their education but is going for administrators.

  • Several years ago I was holding up hearing approval

  • to build a fitness center at

  • Northern Arizona University, because they were going to charge the

  • students three or four hundred dollars a year

  • to pay for the fitness center. A gym.

  • Like a spa on campus.

  • And I said, "You know what? You want to build your fitness center then

  • charge a fee for those who

  • want to use it and have that pay for the fitness center.

  • Don't make every student on the campus pay this."

  • And the administrators tell me, "Well we have to be competitive. We don't have a

  • fitness center we can't get all these extra students." I said, "Why do you want all these extra

  • students? So you can build more buildings and come here looking for more money

  • and increase tuition more to pay for them?"

  • It's all money all the time. I feel like-- it sounds weird--

  • but if you want to get an education money shouldn't be a part of it.

  • We would probably have a better campus

  • not because it's beautiful but because we've got smart people.

  • You shouldn't worry about how it looks, you should

  • worry about if it's actually doing what it's supposed to.

  • We're trying to grow both the west and polytechnic

  • campus because there's the opportunity for growth

  • on those two campuses with the expansion

  • of residence halls and the new residence halls and the new rec center.

  • You see my financial aid you look at it with your own eyes. You see how much I'm coming

  • from, how much I make, how much I don't make and

  • how much is in my bank account. You literally have the paper in front of you

  • and you ask a kid who doesn't have a job

  • who has a thousand dollars in her bank account that's in her savings

  • and like two dollars in my checking account and they say, "OK

  • so we want you to pay thirty-six thousand a year."

  • My loans will continue to grow faster

  • than any salary or wage ever can.

  • It has cost me my family, it has cost me my

  • friends, it has cost me two potential marriages,

  • and of course I've shied away from having children because I simply can't afford it.

  • I currently make eight dollars and fifty cents

  • an hour as a cashier at Ace Hardware.

  • I'll be forty-five thousand dollars in debt by the

  • time I graduate.

  • I am freshly enraged about the

  • state of our education system in the United States.

  • I just called the U.S. Department of Education regarding

  • my bill that I pay on every month and I have been for the last decade.

  • After I graduate, I think I will have about forty-thousand dollars in debt.

  • Facing turning sixty-two and knowing

  • I have another thirty years to pay on my student

  • loans is daunting.

  • My goal you could say right now is to hopefully graduate with two degrees

  • in psychology and global health, get an

  • MBA with emphasis in hospital management.

  • I'm an administrative intern for Maricopa Integrated Health System.

  • I learn things like payroll

  • scheduling, scheduling protocol, working with

  • patients, meeting doctors-- things like that.

  • I kind of get a feel for exactly I want to do. "Thank you so much."

  • Selling tickets over here

  • I work for the athletic department at Arizona State University "If you want to buy a ticket I can sell

  • you a ticket over here"

  • I manage five houses and I also make sure that

  • groceries and all day to day plans are met.

  • When I was actually left alone, it was a big shock.

  • My first semester I kind of cried

  • a lot.

  • Not just because they were gone but because

  • there was so much pressure on me.

  • Every morning I had to wash my own clothes

  • make my own food, do pretty much everything

  • by myself. Alone.

  • I think of myself as a Dad.

  • They are my children, because every single week

  • I am responsible for every single thing that happens inside this house

  • and outside this house.

  • I have to make sure that my sister gets her books that she needs for her assignments.

  • So that they are done every single week.

  • I want to be an important person someday. I want to make some kind

  • of a change. My parents always wanted me to be a doctor

  • they always wanted me to have a big degree. They always wanted me to be

  • the best person I can possibly be.

  • When I think about it in my situation

  • right now, it's really hard to focus on always school, school, school.

  • Even though it's a really important thing. I'm working, I'm studying

  • I need to get good grades. You need to have a good G.P.A. when you get out of undergrad

  • because it's important in your job field.

  • Graduation rates are highest

  • at the highest income levels.

  • So regardless of your aptitude, if your

  • family is making a hundred and fifty thousand dollars and above

  • in family income, your chances of graduating at the undergraduate level--

  • seventy-five percent. If you're under thirty thousand dollars

  • it's twenty-five.

  • Just to be honest, I would not be able to do anything if it wasn't for the scholarship.

  • It's my lifeline right now. It means everything to me.

  • If someone hears my story, one of my teachers hears my story and she says

  • "Why are you in class? You should be out working or something."

  • Study and get A's. You want to get a great job? Leave college

  • with a G.P.A. that's high. I don't know what the answer is I don't want to deny anybody the right

  • to go to college, but I think everybody should understand

  • what they're getting into and what they're going to leave with.

  • It's not the dream that college was in the

  • 1960's when I went to college when it was a true

  • ticket to prosperity. Things have changed.

  • My loans me have caused me to have to fight every single day to be able

  • to pay my bills. If I didn't have that student loan, I would be able to go out

  • in search for a new job. I think we need to listen to the millions because

  • we need to be heard.

  • I don't think it's fair that education is placed on the

  • lower end of the spectrum when it comes to being recognized

  • as something that everyone needs.

  • They haven't been able to help me in any way.

  • I looked into their hardship plans and their

  • disability deferment plans and

  • for one reason or another I was always

  • ineligible and that begs the question: If someone with

  • brain cancer is ineligible for the hardship program then

  • who the hell is eligible for the hardship program?

  • I'll definitely be over a hundred thousand dollars in debt by the time

  • I graduate so I'll be paying that off for the rest of my life.

  • When I was a junior, my mom got diagnosed with cancer.

  • Junior year I'd be going to school and I would drive to

  • Mayo Clinic after school to spend

  • time with my mom, that's just what my daily routine was.

  • So then my senior year came...

  • OK.

  • So you know those nightmares you used to have of, well I always

  • had them, of both my parents dying? That was the

  • biggest nightmare that I'd ever have and that my mom would die too that was

  • the scariest thing for me to go through.

  • Before I graduated-- it was April 29th--

  • I had my whole family out there and

  • she had gone through a couple surgeries, emergency surgeries, because she

  • had internal bleeding from one of her biopsies.

  • So my whole family flew out there and

  • everybody got to say their goodbyes and

  • my sister and I were there in the room when she took her last breath.

  • I wanted her to go knowing that I could

  • achieve what I wanted and that

  • I was going to be OK.

  • That's just what I kept repeating to her, "I'm going to be fine.

  • You need to be OK."

  • I had to pack up in a few days and put it in storage, everything.

  • And that's when I was living in the dorms

  • that was the hardest time because I didn't have anywhere to go.

  • I didn't have any place to call home.

  • I didn't have parents. It was all bad.

  • And that was the first time I was like, "You know I need to get a job

  • I need to be able to support myself. I'm never ever

  • going to put my family through what I was put through when it comes to finances.

  • I'm making my life now. This is my life and I just need to do it.

  • I didn't question

  • can I not make it through school? Can I not finish? Do I have to

  • go work? It was just second nature, I needed to just do it.

  • And I need to come out of it on top and be an inspiration to those

  • that have no idea.

  • In reality I work thirty two plus hours a week

  • at one location, one store, you know, one job.

  • I started as a sales associate, then a keyholder

  • then a floor supervisor, now I'm assistant manager.

  • So I've worked my way up but that's pretty much the top

  • that I can get. So balancing the thirty hours of work

  • that I do, over thirty hours, and then

  • my fifteen hours of credit-hours that I'm in school,

  • I am always just staying up

  • late at night at two o'clock in the morning, pulling all nighters.

  • I am an intern for marketing for ASU

  • athletics so I do the football and basketball games, which is so fun.

  • I do on-site promotions making sure that all of our corporate sponsors who have

  • booths set up or onsites set up that everything is going OK.

  • I'm willing to look at it as, I'm willing to sacrifice this time in my life

  • to school, to work, for happiness in a couple years.

  • Everyday I think about money. When I wake up it's

  • about money. It's just stressful, I get paid on Friday and I'm living

  • on forty dollars for the next couple of days, which is, substantial.

  • I'm going to make it through, but I don't want to feel like that anymore.

  • I want to be able to know that I'm going to have a career that's going

  • to give me something other than living paycheck to paycheck.

  • It's just one after another of something I have to pay and it's hard.

  • You may have to work, you may have to take out loans, you may have

  • to accelerate your program of study.

  • The federal government only allows x number of dollars to go to students in

  • federal assistance or grant assistance. Those are the rules.

  • It's increasingly seeming that students who went to school are actually in more trouble than students

  • that didn't because they don't have that hundred thousand debt on their back when they graduate.

  • My education is just something that I have to do. It's something that

  • needs to happen. I don't think that I've ever hesitated and been like

  • me dropping out of school-- well I'm going to have to start paying my loans back, so why not just stay in school?

  • Pell grants. Student loans. What these have done is they've allowed college administrators

  • to jack up the tuition. It's a very simple process. If these loans weren't being subsidized

  • at dirt cheap prices, and if students weren't getting all these grants, then

  • the administrators wouldn't be able to charge ridiculous rates for tuition they'd have to be competitive

  • and charge lower rates.

  • The bottom line is, throughout the United States, there has been an

  • erosion of state support

  • for higher education at public colleges and

  • universities and that oweness that responsibility has shifted

  • to students. Three years ago

  • when we look at that the state's budget cuts about two-hundred and

  • sixty-five million of those budget cuts came in higher education.

  • I feel like it's almost like a company it's almost like a business.

  • You're education has turned into business rather than being--

  • you know, you should be looked up to because you're

  • going to school and you're doing the right thing. And I almost feel like I'm getting

  • punished with these bills and with these late fees and

  • everything that comes. Half of the stuff that adds up to your tuition

  • I have no idea where it goes, you know what it adds up to

  • technology fee, what does that even mean?

  • Schools have become degree factories and not academia places of higher education

  • where great minds come together to talk.

  • It shouldn't be like a company, it shouldn't be like I'm a machine, it shouldn't be like I'm just everybody

  • else, it should be more personal it should be more hands-on.

  • Why are you not helping me? Why aren't you helping the other around me?

  • When it comes down to it, I can do it, but those people that really can't, there's people in worse situations than

  • I'm in and they're in school. But why won't

  • you even talk to us? Why won't you even have the dignity

  • to sit with me one on one and tell me the truth

  • and tell me the answers and tell me why this why that.

  • If it's out of their control then so be it and there's nothing that we can

  • be angry for, but we don't know that because

  • we haven't heard anything.

  • It's not the same system it was ten, twenty years

  • ago that a lot of people remember. We're coming out now in so

  • much debt that it's difficult to fathom.

  • I can hardly afford to live on my annual salary and pay back my student loan debt.

  • Education may have set my mind free, but my student loan debts

  • have shackled me for life.

  • I earned this and right now, all it is, is a piece

  • of paper. It's not getting me any jobs or anything.

  • They need to realize that this is crushing the

  • "American dream" for people and it's going to hurt.

  • We have no idea what the effect of so many student debtors will be ten years from now

  • on the American economy and that's what I'm afraid of.

  • So when you go out there with your degree, because everybody else has a degree, you get less money or

  • instead of being a barrister with your law degree, you are a barista at Starbucks.

  • That's the way it goes. And that's the reality of the situation.

  • As a country, what do we value in education

  • and how does that help us be a better society?

  • Be a better society for this state, this country and

  • actually the world.

  • They could take away everything, my room, my hair, shave my head

  • I don't care, but you can't take away my education.

  • Education is the one thing they can never take away. They can cut off your leg, your arm but

  • they can't take away your education.

  • If we want to be successful, I think that we need to have educated

  • young men and women to run this country.

Student loans the crushing debt

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Scholarslip:一部關於學生債務危機的紀錄片 (Scholarslip: A documentary about the student debt crisis)

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    Wonderful 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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