The first reaction I had upon reading that students were repaying their loans late at higher rates than ever was cynical, and entirely justified. To all the banks losing money because college students haven’t paid their loans back: are you really surprised?
Most top colleges in this country cost upwards of $50,000. That’s more than a good chunk of our population makes in an entire year. And colleges can compensate for that with however much financial aid they want, touting their scholarship rates to showcase their affordability, but when it comes down to it, the system takes the word broken to an entire new level.
Posters in my school touting the effectiveness of insecticide sprayed mosquito nets in preventing malaria in Africa proclaim that a $10 net can protect the lives of up to three people for up to five years. To contextualize that figure, one year of Wesleyan’s tuition, which rounds to about $60,000, could save up to 18,000 lives. I doubt my degree will have that kind of impact. There are a lot of people trying to make college tuition more affordable. Financial aid is crucial in giving millions who would otherwise be unable to attend their institutions a chance at a higher education. But when student loan debt piles up in the way that it has, you can blame the deferred responsibility of the young, and this is definitely a contributing factor. You can blame falling graduation rates or rising tuition or whatever you want, really. But nothing is going to change until we stop casting blame and start working together to make education affordable.
