The Student Life

by Leigh Graham · 2009-04-21 06:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Thought it was all bong hits and globalization protests?  Think again.

Turns out students today are living on food stamps and defaulting on their student loans.  It's no wonder VP Biden is leading a task force on making college more affordable.  Here's hoping something gets done.  Increasing Pell Grants is a necessary and good first step.  But it had to come to this first?  Public assistance and near bankruptcy?

I've mentioned here, incl. just yesterday, that my fellow doctoral candidate boyfriend and I are eligible for food stamp assistance at this point in our lives.  I suspected, but didn't know for sure, that we were not alone.  Today our Department head is giving a talk about the state of our finances, as we and the Institute overall face dramatic budget cuts.  But it's not clear to me why college tuition has risen as dramatically as it has in the last 30 years - doubling at private universities and tripling at public colleges, significantly outpacing incomes.  Is this due to the overall reduction in social spending that really began in the Reagan Era?  It must be the general trend towards devolution, privatization and inequality since the 1970s, leaving states, as we know all too well in the current moment, struggling to foot the bill for education, healthcare, etc.  It's amazing.

I am obviously incredibly blessed to have had as much education as I do; I'm truly a rarity.  And the last 5 1/2 years in school have also held my $50k in student loans at bay, as they've been deferred for most of that time.   What's especially troubling to me right now if my freelance work doesn't pick up is whether I'm eligible to borrow from the feds for my last and final year.  I was not eligible except for what turns out to be chump change compared to the actual costs of school for this current year.  Grant funds colleagues have received either don't cover the costs of tuition, or come with spending restrictions that can actually increase a student's out-of-pocket expenses.  It's byzantine, punitive and a mess.

I'm the first person on my father's side to graduate from college, and the first in my entire family to (likely) earn a PhD.  I know how much families value the ability to send their kids to college, or for adults to become the first in their families to graduate.  The idea that they or their children are struggling to buy groceries or contemplating abandoning their student loans is such a terrible shame for all of us.

(Photo of a Citibank loan ad by p373)

Leigh Graham
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