Nowadays, attending college is indentured servitude. Almost everyone on campus must work in some way to keep the dream of a college education alive.
For some, it means studying into the wee hours of the morning so they do not lose their scholarship. For others, it means working a part-time or full-time job.
Often though, the money students earn does not supplement the rising costs of tuition, living and textbooks. At this point, students take out loans to pay for the promise of a better future.
But the harsh realities of the economy are setting in — what once was made readily available to all, is now available only to select individuals.
A paradox has developed. The promise of the American dream is destroying the American dream.
A Sept. 4 article by Anne Marie Chaker in the Wall Street Journal released staggering statistics. During the 2008-2009 school year, students took out 25 percent more in loans than they had the previous year.
The article states rising costs are “forcing [students] to put off traditional milestones — from buying a first home to even marriage and having children.”
Many people have different interpretations of the American dream, but it ultimately promises for an individual to succeed and often includes these traditional milestones.
Debt can hinder success and these traditional milestones. Our society raises children encouraging them to attend college, even if their parents did not.
That is the beauty of this country — every generation attempts to better the next. We are closing the gap between how things are and how things could be. However, we will fall drastically short of our potential if college costs continue to skyrocket.
After a student graduates, he or she is still a slave to his or her debt. It is not uncommon for someone to leave with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars in student loans. This is simply unacceptable — students were promised a better life through education.
Thankfully, this critical issue has not gone unnoticed. The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act before Congress will help students out.
According to the House Committee on Education and Labor’s Web site, this act will increase the maximum Pell grant amount to $6,900 by 2019 and strengthen the Perkins Loan program, a program that provides low-cost federal loans to students. It will also renovate broken down campuses so students can learn in a modern, cutting-edge environment.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, it will save Americans close to $87 billion over ten years because we will switch to a cheaper loan program. It also directs $8 billion back to the U.S. Treasury to help pay the deficit. Not only does this bill help students, it is fiscally effective.
None of this will matter if this bill doesn’t get passed. We need to rescue the American dream for this generation, the promise of prosperity that brought many of us to college in the first place. To do so we must let our elected officials know what really matters.
Reach Andrew at andrew.hedlund@asu.edu.
