Why Do Students Have So Much Debt?

↓ More info and sources below ↓

Going to college in America ain't cheap with each semester costing thousands upon thousands of dollars. How do American students pay for this and how did the price tag get so high? Today, Danielle takes a dive into the student debt crisis and examines the good intentions that led to it.

Created and Hosted by: Danielle Bainbridge
Produced by Complexly for PBS Digital Studios
#StudenLoans #StudentDebt #OriginOfEverything
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Origin of Everything is a show about the undertold histories and cultural dialogues that make up our collective story. From the food we eat, to the trivia and fun facts we can’t seem to get out of our heads, to the social issues we can’t stop debating, everything around us has a history. Origin of Everything is here to explore it all. We like to think that no topic is too small or too challenging to get started.

Works Cited:
Best, Joel and Eric Best. The Student Loan Mess: How Good Intentions Created a Trillion-Dollar Problem. Berkeley: U of California P, 2014.

College Tuition Compare. “Paying for University of Pennsylvania.”

Delbanco, Andrew. College: What it Was, Is and Should be. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2012.

United States Government, “National Defense Education Act of 1958.”

[pbsorigins]

Hello and Hi Everyone! Because this is a new episode/upload I'll be signed on here for the next hour answering the comments and questions that roll in. So drop them below and let's talk about student loan debt (or anything else). Let's go!
-Danielle

[tiki]

I just paid off my student loans two days ago. It only took me 21 years to do so...😬

[Lerkero]

Am I the only person noticing that the US government didn't significantly subsidize higher education until it was an incentive for war? That makes me uncomfortable with the priorities of the country.

[pranksterguy]

I don't remember who the comedian was. On tv many years ago he said "I spent $50, 000 to get my college degree-glad I didn't do something stupid with that money, like buy a house!!!

[ianbenitez]

So thankful that I went to a community college and paid for it debt free and not a state college

[fennecfoxfanatic]

Gosh, it is very difficult to focus on my classes when all I can think off is all the money I owe. Sometimes it feels like higher education isn't worth the cost and I could've just put a down payment on a house. I am in art school and instructors often tell us we will have to be working retail on the side for a steady income. So why are we in school then???

[therealnoodles]

Australia - pay college later only if you earn above AUD$40, 000 a year. No interest. Only indexed to inflation. I never paid anything while i was in university.

[alyssahansen]

We need to get away form the cultural phenomenon of having to attend college in order to be successful. Colleg degrees shouldnt be required for basic jobs such as an assistant or a front desk position.
We are a country of over saturation of college degrees and more manual labor no one wants to do.

[michelenakamura]

Stepson #1 has $89, 000 student loan debt. His wife has $63, 000. There total payment, after adjustment, is $1, 800. Stepson #2 has $72, 000 debt. His payments after adjustment is $900.

What you should never do: Attend a private for profit school. These schools are ripoffs. Stepson #1 paid $30, 000 for an 18 month graphic design program. Only job he was offered was $7.35 per hour screen printing t-shirts. Nothing transferred so he had to start over from square one. Private for profits will promise you everything to get you enrolled. Again, these schools are RIP offs. Dont fall into their trap. 2. Use student loans for living expenses. Too often money for rent etc gets used for entertainment. I was a education/job counselor for 30 years.

[joshr]

This ignored all the massive spending pits in universities that don’t even improve the educational quality for the students. Things like multi-million dollar salaries for board members and directors and presidents, or enormous football stadiums to draw in even more money to the sports programs. Higher education is treated like a corporation with those in power leeching tens or hundreds of millions of dollars off the students annually without many significant improvements in the quality of lives of students and workers.

[StephanieDouglassMusic]

I'm less than 6k away from paying off my student loans. My plan is to be finished paying them off by the end of the summer. Yes, a lot of my income goes to paying them off. But I'd rather not be in debt. (I started with 37k) I started in college in 2005, and my whole first year was paid for by Pell Grants, Cal Grants (resident of California), and scholarships. Then Cal Grants disappeared.

[wedgepressure]

Got my RN for free from my local community college. No debt, easily employable, skilled and well paid. There are ways around the problem.

[milanimorales]

I promised myself no more debt. No house no car no degree is worth it. Community college. Used car. Rent.

[AmielioW]

I went to college for 1 semester for a 3.4 GPA and never went back. I then went and got a trade that will always be in high demand. I now make over 100k yearly. I love my job and I owe no student loan debt.

[TheModernInvestor]

Greed. The answer is greed.




University in Europe is free. Masters programs in *English* across Europe are also free.




People in Europe laugh at Americans for allowing their system to be as corrupt as it is. Theres no reason for your health care to be expensive, theres no reason it costs $23, 000 to have a baby in America and theres no reason for your university to cost anything more than $500 a year. Neither should you be outfitted with a lifetime debt at the age of 18.




The cycle will however continue, and for the banks and loan offices, thats the best part.

[truongcahanh]

I just moved to France 🇫🇷 where university inscription fees are around 200€

[BreadR]

So an 18 year old that recently graduated high school is expected to know how to deal with all of those weird names and numbers? No wonder they don’t know about all of their options for paying college

[TippyPuddles]

My response to all those who went to college and think every situation is as simple and easy as your own. My husband retired and moved out of state leaving me with an adult daughter with mental disabilities. I was a stay at home mom for 20 years. I returned to school because I could not get a job that paid me enough to live. I live in the country with an old car and no public transportation. Could not afford to move, no credit cards. I took out student loans to try to keep a roof over my daughter's head as well as my own while attending college. Her mental health declined and being abandoned by her father didn't help either. After several years and abandoning a few courses to take care of her, my debt climbed. You think your getting somewhere, and that when you get out of college you'll have a good paying job. After a few years and a few stays in the mental ward, my daughter finally got SSI. Now I have a hodge podge of classes and only accomplished a general associates. Not worth the debt but I have a place to live. Would I make different choices if I'd known the future, you bet. But it is what it is now. Please realize not everyone goes to expensive colleges and just racks up debt living it up on student loans. Real people are struggling to have a better life.

[pctLowBattery]

The Student-Debt Crisis Hits Hardest at Historically Black Colleges
• HBCU alumni have a median federal-debt load of about $29, 000 at graduation—32% above graduates of other public and nonprofit four-year schools.
• The majority of HBCU grads haven’t paid down even $1 of their original loan balance in the first few years out of school.

Robert F. smith is awesome for his generosity for agreeing to pay off Morehouse ‘19 graduating class $40M in loans.

[lilitheden]

Here in Belgium my daughter has done Veterinarian studies, 6 year college. Because my income was quite low and I was a single mother she could apply for a state scholarship of about €3500 every year. The college fee was reduced to € 80 per year. She was also lucky to find a room in a University owned complex. Those rooms are at reduced prices for people with low income. Off course the books and other things she needed for her studies were the usual price. The government gives out these grants so that children of every income can do university studies. There are a lot foreign students at our universities, what makes it quite interesting.