Students getting left by the wayside need bailout too
Julianne Malveaux/NNPA Columnist
Issue date: 2/22/09 Section: Student Life
Why do banks and businesses get breaks when college students do not? While some are getting multi-billion dollar bailouts, the students who so enthusiastically supported President Barack Obama are being offered scant relief from the effects of our broken economy.
Much attention has been focused on keeping people in the middle class. What about those who are attempting to claw their way into the middle class through education? We need a broad-based stimulus package, and college students need special help.
Thanks to a federal government bailout, General Motors will be offering cars to the public with zero percent interest loans. Banks, too, are getting subsidized loans.
Through federal programs, students pay between 5 and 9 percent for government loans. When their parents cannot qualify for federal programs, they go to private lenders, and pay as much as 15 percent for loans to cover college education.
Some pay for college on their credit cards, paying between 18 and 24 percent for their children to go to college. If we can offer cars at zero percent, and give banks subsidized loans, why not offer students college loans at one percent.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson calls it the one percent solution, and he is right on time. One percent money for students helps them with better repayment terms, and helps their parents as well. And it helps colleges maintain enrollment, because there are students who are dropping out of school because they can't afford to pay.
When college students have federally subsidized loans, they are required to begin paying them back within six months of graduation. In this economy? We need a reality check. As long as the unemployment rate exceeds six percent, students should have 18 months to begin paying back their loans. Otherwise, students are pressured to pay their loans back by whatever means necessary. Some use credit cards, at 18 percent, to pay loans back. Others struggle and find that if they do not pay their credit scores, or their lifetime of opportunities, are affected.
Much attention has been focused on keeping people in the middle class. What about those who are attempting to claw their way into the middle class through education? We need a broad-based stimulus package, and college students need special help.
Thanks to a federal government bailout, General Motors will be offering cars to the public with zero percent interest loans. Banks, too, are getting subsidized loans.
Through federal programs, students pay between 5 and 9 percent for government loans. When their parents cannot qualify for federal programs, they go to private lenders, and pay as much as 15 percent for loans to cover college education.
Some pay for college on their credit cards, paying between 18 and 24 percent for their children to go to college. If we can offer cars at zero percent, and give banks subsidized loans, why not offer students college loans at one percent.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson calls it the one percent solution, and he is right on time. One percent money for students helps them with better repayment terms, and helps their parents as well. And it helps colleges maintain enrollment, because there are students who are dropping out of school because they can't afford to pay.
When college students have federally subsidized loans, they are required to begin paying them back within six months of graduation. In this economy? We need a reality check. As long as the unemployment rate exceeds six percent, students should have 18 months to begin paying back their loans. Otherwise, students are pressured to pay their loans back by whatever means necessary. Some use credit cards, at 18 percent, to pay loans back. Others struggle and find that if they do not pay their credit scores, or their lifetime of opportunities, are affected.
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Mitchell
posted 2/24/09 @ 2:16 PM EST
If we bail out students, we should get the same 5 to 8 percent banks have to pay every year and 40% control of your time until you pay it back. Not that you know that you can consolidate your loans at 3% or that you can deffer payments up to 3 years after graduation, but whos checking? Not that you know that 0 percent loans are illegal and GM pays for that financing. (Continued…)
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