Debt? No Thanks

According to American Student Assistance, nearly 20 million Americans attend college each year, and of those 20 million people, nearly 60% of them borrow loans to pay for their schooling. The site also says that there are nearly 37 million people with outstanding loans.

Unfortunately, that staggering statistic will likely increase, as school tuition’s continue to rise. According to the article College Grads Facing Higher Student Loan Bills, Servicing Woes, the national student debt has surpassed the $1 trillion mark.

That being said, how can students, perhaps not completely eliminate, but at least decrease the amount of debt they leave their undergrad years with? Work, work, work.

By spending some of their free time at work, students could greatly decrease the amount of debt they end up with after four years of school.  A lot of students take out greater loans so that they don’t have to work during their undergrad years, but if they would just spend between ten and 15 hours of their time per week at a part-time job they wouldn’t have to borrow as much for student loans.

Another way to avoid a large amount of debt is to lessen spending. College-aged people are more likely to participate in frivolous spending. If students cut back on shopping, eating out, and other extra items they could save a lot more money. That’s not to say that all students should never go out to eat or never go shopping, but if students cut back even a little on their spending they could lessen their debt.

Student Organizations, Work, School…the Work is Never Done

(See Just a Good Time, or a Full-Time Job to learn more about Alyssa)

Alyssa works to support herself as an independent, however, she is still a full-time college student, which isn’t always as easy as it seems.

“Time management is a major factor in staying on top of my schoolwork, and it isn’t always a component that I succeed at,” she said.

Throw in one more thing Alyssa invests time in, she is a committee member on the student organization Dance Marathon. She attends weekly meetings for her committee and monthly general dancer meetings.

Dance Marathon is a nonprofit student organization at the University of Iowa that supports children with cancer. They do fundraising, with all profits going to the kids and their families, and also hold events leading up to the “Big Event” in February.

“Sure Dance Marathon isn’t something I have to be involved in, and it’s just one more weekly event taking up time, but it is something I really enjoy and the kids who benefit from it are more important than me having a few minutes to sit down and watch TV. It’s a night of working that I gladly give up.”

“College really has been like a full-time job for me when you consider everything that I have going on on a regular basis. It’s crazy, but honestly, if I didn’t have to work I’d be bored! I really can’t complain.”