Even as college prices and average student loan debt rise, educators in some sectors of higher education report they’re also seeing plenty of students like Yeh. After watching debt cause widespread damage in their families and communities, they’re determined to avoid loans no matter what.
What’s surprising is this: Educators aren’t sure that’s always such a good thing.
Students who take extreme steps to avoid debt at all costs, they say, may get stuck with something much more financially damaging than moderate student loan debt. They may not wind up with a college degree.
To pay for college and minimize borrowing, students are working longer hours at jobs and taking fewer credits. They’re less likely to enroll full-time. They’re living at home. They’re “trading down’’ to less selective institutions with lower prices, and heading first to cheaper community colleges with plans to transfer later to four-year schools.
Those may sound like money-savers, but in fact each is a well-documented risk factor that makes students less likely to graduate.
“There’s been such attention on student debt being unmanageable that current students have internalized that,’’ said Deborah Santiago, co-founder and vice president for policy research at the group Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit advocacy group. In fact, “If you can take out a little bit of loan you’re more likely to complete. If you can go to a more selective institution that gives you more resources and support, you’re more likely to complete.’’
To be sure, educators can’t help but admire the determination of students like Yeh; if that kind of responsibility was more common, the financial crisis might never have happened. And nobody blames students for being afraid amid a flurry of news about debt, like a recent analysis estimating the average debt burden for 2010 college graduates who borrowed was over $25,000, up 5 percent from the year before.
