2008 Woodie Awards
Debts cause for concern among college grads
Benjamin Pomerance
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: News
Originally published: 11/13/08 at 6:12 PM EST
Last update: 11/13/08 at 6:10 PM EST
First came the diploma.
Then came the bill.
And a year and a half after graduating from Plattsburgh State, Jared Stanley said both souvenirs of his college education are still very much in place.
"I've been paying off my college loans for 14 or 15 months," Stanley said. "And I've got about another 15 years to go."
He isn't alone.
In an October 2008 survey conducted by a entry-level job Web site, collegegrad.com, 51 percent of respondents indicated that it will take at least 10 years to pay off their college loans, a 5 percent increase in this category from three years ago and a rise of over 20 percent over the last decade.
PSUC isn't an exception to this trend.
More than 75 percent of PSUC pupils graduate with student loans hanging over their heads, with the average student finding $22,634 of debt waiting for him or her on the other side of the graduation stage.
The bottom line, Stanley said, is that being in debt has become a fact of life.
"I'd still say it was worth it," Stanley said of the price he paid to earn his mass media degree from PSUC. "I got a college education, and to do just about anything in the world today, you need to have that college degree."
Unfortunately, Stanley said, the present-day job market isn't helping.
"This is my first job out of college, so the pay isn't all that great," Stanley said of his position at the Mountain Lake PBS television studios in Plattsburgh. "And I have to take $300 or so from the pay I take home every month and budget it for loan payments. It's hard. But I know some people who are paying $500 per month for 15 years on their loans, and that's just ridiculous. I don't know how they do it."
Angie French knows how they do it. As she prepares for graduation this December, French said she is looking forward to going to graduate school, earning her Master's degree, and eventually entering the field of youth counseling. Yet when French walks the stage with her cap and gown this winter, she also knows something else awaits her: $74,000 in debt.
Then came the bill.
And a year and a half after graduating from Plattsburgh State, Jared Stanley said both souvenirs of his college education are still very much in place.
"I've been paying off my college loans for 14 or 15 months," Stanley said. "And I've got about another 15 years to go."
He isn't alone.
In an October 2008 survey conducted by a entry-level job Web site, collegegrad.com, 51 percent of respondents indicated that it will take at least 10 years to pay off their college loans, a 5 percent increase in this category from three years ago and a rise of over 20 percent over the last decade.
PSUC isn't an exception to this trend.
More than 75 percent of PSUC pupils graduate with student loans hanging over their heads, with the average student finding $22,634 of debt waiting for him or her on the other side of the graduation stage.
The bottom line, Stanley said, is that being in debt has become a fact of life.
"I'd still say it was worth it," Stanley said of the price he paid to earn his mass media degree from PSUC. "I got a college education, and to do just about anything in the world today, you need to have that college degree."
Unfortunately, Stanley said, the present-day job market isn't helping.
"This is my first job out of college, so the pay isn't all that great," Stanley said of his position at the Mountain Lake PBS television studios in Plattsburgh. "And I have to take $300 or so from the pay I take home every month and budget it for loan payments. It's hard. But I know some people who are paying $500 per month for 15 years on their loans, and that's just ridiculous. I don't know how they do it."
Angie French knows how they do it. As she prepares for graduation this December, French said she is looking forward to going to graduate school, earning her Master's degree, and eventually entering the field of youth counseling. Yet when French walks the stage with her cap and gown this winter, she also knows something else awaits her: $74,000 in debt.
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