I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education
Report.
A college education can be very costly in the United States, especially at a
private school. Rising costs have led more and more families to borrow money to
help pay for college.
There are different federal loans and private loans for students and parents.
Interest rates on some of these loans will go up on July 1st. As borrowing has
increased, there are growing concerns that many students graduate with too much
debt.
In 1993, less than one-half of graduates from four-year
colleges had student loans. Now two-thirds of them do. Their average loan debt
when they graduate is nineteen thousand dollars.
At public universities, the average is seventeen thousand dollars.
The Project on Student Debt is an action group that collects these numbers
from reports. It notes that averages do not present the full picture.
For example, in 2004, one-fourth of students with loans
graduated more than twenty-five thousand dollars in debt. And that did not
include borrowing by their parents. The Project on Student Debt says parents as
well as students are borrowing more to pay for college.
Students can expect to take about ten years to pay back their loans.
Repayment does not begin until after they are out of school.
Higher borrowing limits have also helped push up student debts. Students from
all economic levels are borrowing more. Corrected for inflation, student loans
have increased around sixty percent in ten years.
Researchers say one effect is that the higher the debts, the more likely
graduates are to look only for high paying jobs. That means there is less chance
they will take jobs in areas like teaching or other public service.
A study done in 2002 for a major student lender found that debts
can also affect lives in other ways. Some students paying back their college
loans said they delayed buying their first house. Some delayed marriage or
having children.
In May, groups representing students, parents and college officials asked the
government to change some of its loan repayment rules. The requested changes
would recognize graduates who have difficulty repaying their loans because they
do not earn very much. They would be able to pay less right after they graduate,
then pay more as their earnings increase.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.
Read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.
