College Student Loans Blog

As graduates celebrate their hard work and begin their careers, they are also getting some lessons not learned in college. They are learning the hard way about debts and the overwhelming feeling one gets along with them.

Financial experts have predicted this trend, yet were powerless to stop it. The American economy is sailing into a recession and the rates of consumer debt are soaring. There are record numbers of home foreclosures, and the real estate market is becoming as desolate as a desert. Yet the government has done nothing to improve the situation.

Now we are hearing of an income tax “bonus” that is supposed to boost the economy. What does this mean to the college graduates who are trying to get out from under their college loans and their credit card debts? Unfortunately, only about a month’s worth of payments.

The college students of today entered the independent world being bombarded by credit card offers at their college campus. They saw marketing teams in their common areas, had their names and information sold to credit card companies directly from their college itself. They quickly racked up credit card bills along side their sizeable loans, unaware of the long term effects of these actions. The credit cards often carried large limits, and equally large interest rates. The late fees and service charges could multiply daily when not paid of, and skyrocket the balance on the cards before the student even realized they hadn’t paid.

Now our economy is failing, as we offer the world more and more college graduates. This is not indicative of our society losing intelligence, or of our universities providing inferior education. It is an example of financial education being basically non-existent. Our graduates should be required to learn money management skills before being handed their degree.

Graduates in debt are now living the in the same economic level of other non-graduates that did not overspend their incomes. Preparation for high school graduation should carry a requirement of life skills 101 of sorts. If students are taught all the fine print that can be found on credit card offers and the options available for college loans and later consolidation, many of these problems would be headed off at the beginning.

Graduates begin their careers in huge amounts of debt. They are taking two steps forward, and three steps back. This limits or even prevents their abilities to contribute to the nation’s economy in a consumer fashion. Debt management needs to begin as soon as the debt is incurred - not after the debt has taken over the life and livelihood of the college graduate.