Time for more federal involvement with increasing student-loan debt

Newspapers have become pretty predictable lately. There?s always something about the 2012 elections; something about the wars in either Iraq or Afghanistan, or both; and most recently, something about college debt.

According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Education, 94 percent of students nationwide who earn a bachelor?s degree are forced to borrow to pay for their college education. On the UW campus, tuition is expect to inflate by another 16 percent, so it comes as no surprise that an overwhelming number of students will be forced to take out a loan ? if not add more to their current debt ? to pay for the increase. In 2010-11, 58 percent of UW undergraduates received some form of financial aid, totaling more than $251 million. But for students who have to borrow, the average debt in 2009-10 for a bachelor?s degree was a mind-blowing $19,500.

And that?s with a national average of $23,300. It?s time to call in federal backup.

For students who have just graduated and joined the job search, good luck finding full-time employment with good benefits and a decent salary. In today?s job market, securing just one of those is a rarity. So how are we supposed to pay off bills that can often cost as much as the rent?

The balance of federal student loans, according to the U.S. Department of Education, has grown by more than 60 percent in the last five years. Payments are being made on just 38 percent of the balance of federal student loans, which is down from 46 percent in 2007, and nearly one in 10 borrowers who started repayment defaulted within two years ? double the rate in 2005.

This massive growth of student debt is reflective of our broken higher-education system, and student lobbying on the state level has hardly helped the situation. Nationally, state and local spending per college student just reached a 25-year low, and the Department of Education recently predicted the average cost of attending a public college will have more than doubled in just 15 years. But with states in such debt themselves ? California is in the hole by $16 billion (thanks, Schwarzenegger) ? legislators find themselves in a difficult spot: fund the college student or fund the foster home.

To start, the federal government needs to begin favoring the debt-loaded college student as opposed to the private-loan industry. As Deanne Loonin, director of the National Consumer Law Center?s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project, said, ?the government has consistently favored school, lender, and collection industry profits over the needs of struggling borrowers.? This is unacceptable treatment for those who are working to make a fresh start for themselves after graduation but are unable to do so with such burdensome debt. There needs to be a statute of limitations for student loan collectors, and the federal government needs to take on a more active role within the industry to ensure students can pay attention to getting their education, rather than worrying about how to pay it off later.

As a hopeful goal ? and a pretty obvious one, at that ? there needs to be an increase in federal assistance programs and more funds put toward the already-instated federal-loan programs: the Perkins and subsidized Stafford loans. A Democrat-sponsored bill currently under debate in Congress proposes the extension of the Stafford?s current 3.4 percent interest rate for another year, since without any action, rates will climb to 6.8 percent. It just keeps getting worse.

On a somewhat brighter note, both Obama and Romney have expressed the need to curb college costs and for Congress to pass a law preventing federally backed loans from doubling in interest rates.

With the most recent state budget allowing for no new cuts to the UW, there may be a hint of better days ahead in terms of Washington state?s fiscal situation. Until those come, however, the $1 trillion student-loan bubble will continue to expand. Something needs to be done before it explodes. The federal government needs to take a larger role in monitoring private student loans and providing more financial assistance options for students paying for higher education.

Students deserve more than a post-graduation job at Starbucks to pay for their degree. We?ve already worked hard enough.

Reach Opinion Editor Katie Burke at opinion@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @OpinionDailyUW

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