English 280: The Journalistic Essay

By Sasha Smith

There’s yet another way the future is now dependent on the federal government, not surprisingly it comes in the form of cash. As with any other situation in this country, if there’s a lack of funds, things in the future tend to look bleak and many goals may remain as simply unattainable. Today the average exemplary college scholar, whom may be involved on campus, academically excelling and a role model of what college success looks like can easily find themselves leaving school On September 5^th of this year at Tennessee State University, 400 students were given 48 hours to pack their things and leave the school’s campus, they had been “purged” from the University. These students hadn’t done anything wrong and most of them probably were academically achieving, but the recent downturn in America’s credit economy has had consequences for students who want a higher education degree. Obtaining that degree for an increasing amount of students may mean leaving college with $40,000 to $90,000 dollars in debt. This surprising is not a shock to many students anymore, but rather becoming a pattern.

As many citizens are well aware, affording college has always been a challenge for many students and obtaining financial aid is a significant part of attending and remaining in school each year. With these next few years many students will find themselves helping schools to bridge the gap left by state budget cuts in funding. States are responding to budget cuts by taking away from colleges and Universities, thus the schools pass the costs on to the students and their families. School tuition is on an increase, especially for out-of-state students. The College of Notre Dame increased their costs by five percent bringing their overall fees to $34,650. With private loan lenders, such as Citigroup, who normally give generously to college students taking away their loan programs, it’s leaving college students virtually dependable on federal help and thousands of dollars in debt. John, a representative f Citigroup simply commented on the issue by saying, “based on the legislation and the way things are in the economy, it would no longer be a smart or beneficial choice for Citigroup to continue giving out private loans to students at this point.” But not everyone is turning their hands away from students, well-off corporations such as Bank of America are still committed to loaning to students nationwide, their corporate office was not available for comment.

But the problem still exists and students are not the only ones affected. Parents and even college officials have had to take notice and respond. Noni Bourne, an undergraduate student advisor at New York University says, “I think it’s going to affect a lot of students and their ability to attend college, but it really depends on what type of aid they have…if their family is unable to make the EFC (estimated family contribution from the FAFSA) they will have trouble. And even more so if they relied on private loans to cover tuition costs because the loan world is going to be fairly unpredictable…”  Many students have varying opinions on the epidemic; Shalena Taylor of Boston College says that “The economy and financial aid problems haven’t affected my financial aid awards; my school has pretty much covered it.” Colleges such as Boston College, Boston University and Tufts University are not having such a drastic problem with giving students an acceptable amount of financial aid to cover schools costs.

Patricia Reilly who is the director of Financial Aid at Tufts University stated that said that one of the biggest problem in this epidemic is, “the credit crunch; the ability of students and families being able to borrow has become more difficult to be approved, it’s been on the margin of difficult for student this year, not a lot but a handful couldn’t get loans,. The greater economic crisis in the economy as a whole and we don’t know yet how that’s going to truly affect us.  These problems with housing, stock market etc are all essential aspects. Credit companies are being tighter on their requirements, making it much harder on students. While Tufts has increased its tuition by 5% this past semester along with other New England area schools, Reilly insisted that none of her students have had to drop out because of the problem as of yet, but predicts that the school itself will run into enrollment problems this summer and going forth. Though she has a more unsure perspective she proposes that “Schools need to come up with ways to help them pays those bills otherwise students will have to leave which will hurt both students and schools in terms of enrollment and students not being able to get their degrees.”

Dahlia a student at the University of Massachusett’s Boston cite who’s currently struggling with financial aid shared her thoughts on the issue, “Financial aid sucks because it definitely isn’t helping me financially… or in any type of way for that matter… my account definitely has a hold on it and I won’t b able to register for classes until they get their money. I tried going to the offices but they’re saying that I’m getting all that I’m “eligible” for which isn’t much. I’m still struggling sometimes I feel like going in there yelling at them until they give me the money I need to stay there, I need to be able to graduate somehow.” Not all students are being covered completely or well enough to survive and this can lead to increased stress causing their grades and personal lives to suffer. Jasmine Dumay also a student at the University of Massachusetts responded to the topic by simply stating, “of course it is discouraging when you’re trying to get money for school and you can’t. It does add a lot to the stress but also makes u want to work harder. But if you can’t even stay in school what’s all the work for?” We as the outside community and larger society always picture college students walking eagerly across their campuses, hanging out in local café’s and coffee shops books and studying material in hand and at some point, the topic of discussion. But if the economy continues to dwindle and less financing options are open to students, they’ll be fewer students, less books and a major dent in our education institutions. Yes as we step into a future of “Change” and promises, students may not only have to carry the weight of the progressing land of the free but may have to do it with hands held open waiting for change of all kinds.