Another cautionary debt story

UABound
Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:31:40 +0000

justamom…

Of course, the persons who take out such loans are ultimately responsible. But, you can’t deny that colleges love to play the “smoke and mirrors” game with F/A. On all their pretty mailings, they loudly proclaim how nearly ALL of their students receive huge% of their college costs in student loans. That, unfortunately, gives comfort to the prospective student and parents who are left thinking that there will be some tuition discounts, scholarships, grants, work-study, and maybe “some” loans. For those who come from families that may not be “college f/a savvy,” they are especially vulnerable.

The student applies, the entire family is excited, the acceptance and F/A package arrives and… it’s all or mostly all a bunch of student loans. The student and the family then remember the words on the “pretty mailers” about how everyone is using F/A, so they think, “Well, this seems to be what everyone is doing, so it must be okay.” Again, those who may not be that “savvy” about the whole thing, running the F/A loan calculator, etc, are vulnerable. Those who have no other choice (those who didn’t know to apply to financial safeties) feel compelled to start borrowing money.

The bottom line is that the colleges do not care that this happens. They got their money. They aren’t hurt when students can’t pay back their loans.