Student debt is all our business

“If there was a nuclear war, the only thing that would be left would be cockroaches and student debt.”

That’s a quote from a college graduate over in Pennsylvania whose comments were included in a recent series of newspaper articles about student debt. He owed $250,000.

The amount and the quote may seem extreme, but are they?

The debt that young college students carry is simply astounding – 40 million borrowers owe more than $1 trillion. That’s $1,000,000,000,000. And that, we all know, is a financial crisis waiting to explode.

The ramifications are significant. Studies show that fewer young people are able to buy homes. Many are putting off starting families.

Research shows that more student debt translates into fewer new small businesses, less innovation and entrepreneurship. Loaded with debt, fewer students are seeking out public-service careers like social work and health care, instead opting for higher-paying disciplines like technology and financial services.

The upside of all of this is that the growing problem of and attention to student debt is forcing university and college presidents and trustees to be more accountable, more proactive and more serious about the financial welfare of their students. That’s a good thing.

CHALLENGE IS BROAD

Granted, this is not solely a university challenge. In fact, states across the nation have gradually de-funded support of public higher education, which has pushed costs to students, resulting in higher student loan loads and greater debt. So, accountability for the problem can certainly be spread around.

But, the fact remains that universities are on the front lines. We bring students to our campuses, recruit them to enroll and accept their tuition payments, so we naturally also need to step up and take care of them when the costs exceed their abilities to pay. It is simply the right thing to do.

At YSU, we can brag about our relatively low costs – in fact, according to the latest federal College Scorecard, our net annual cost of $12,707 is the lowest among the comprehensive, public, four-year universities in the state, and $4,000 lower than the national average. Even so, some of our students carry high loan debt after leaving YSU.

One of the things that we can do, and are doing at YSU, is to focus intently on student success.

First, we in higher education need to be up front and honest with applicants about their abilities, academically and financially, to take on a college education and direct them elsewhere (community college, technical school, etc.) if needed.

Second, once they are on campus, we need to work hard and provide the resources to ensure early success, and then carry that success through a regimen that will result in graduation in four years.

The not-so-secret reason that higher education is so expensive is the fact that many students – for one reason or another – take five, six or more years to graduate. With every additional year, the costs pile up.

And third, we are obligated to do a better job working with students to get the internships, the co-ops and the work experiences while they are with us so, once they graduate, they will move into fulfilling jobs and careers. The data clearly shows that students who have student worker jobs on campus are retained at a much higher level, graduate at a much higher rate and leave with significantly less debt.

My mantra with this year’s incoming class of freshmen has been this: graduate by May 2019, have a job in hand upon graduation, and finish with little or no debt.

It is the responsibility of all of us in higher education to guide, motivate, advise and push every one of our students to succeed and achieve excellence, and to do so without leaving them with years and years of financial burdens. We take that charge seriously.

James P. Tressel is president of Youngstown State University.