“Why the big emphasis on avoiding student debt?” some parents and school administrators wonder. “Everyone gets student loans, don’t they? That’s what my guidance counselor told me when I was in high school. Isn’t that just the way it is?”
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Is that just the way it is?
“Our son needs a good education to get a good job,” some parents think. “So we’ll do everything we can to help him get into a ‘good school’ and then we’ll apply for financial aid and co-sign on lots of loans. I need to just accept that. Why make such a big deal out of avoiding student loans?”
The problem is that this kind of thinking is sorely out of date.
Think about your hopes for your children’s futures. Is it your goal that your child will one day:
- Live independently from you?
- Have the financial flexibility to be able to work at what he or she really wants to do and loves to do?
- Feel happy, fulfilled, confident, and highly motivated to work hard?
- Have a marriage relatively free of money-related stress and anxiety?
- Have the financial flexibility to manage the inevitable setbacks of life — without fear?
- Have the financial flexibility to be able to go on to graduate school, seminary, or medical school, if that is their call?
- Look at the possibility of a new baby as a happy, joyous blessing — rather than as a devastating addition to an already impossible financial burden?
- Have enough financial margin to be able to give generously to others?
I ask these questions because student loan debt can very quickly undermine every one of these goals.
I’m not the only one taking this position. Claudia Dreifus and Andrew Hacker (authors of the book Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids — And What We Can Do About It) argue that “A college senior might graduate with ‘only’ $24,000 in student loan and credit card debt, but with interest, collection charges, and penalties for postponed payments, the totals can eventually exceed $100,000.” You can check out their blog at highereducationquestionmark.com.
Dreifus and Hacker tell us: “Student loan debt is (almost never) dischargeable in bankruptcy court, and students who default on student loans will be hounded for life. Lenders can garnish their wages, intercept their tax refunds, have their professional licenses revoked, and prevent them from working for the government or collecting their social security.”
This is a nightmare scenario, but consider this one that’s not only worse, it’s more likely: if student loan and credit card debt end up destroying your child’s credit, he or she may not be able to get a job at all after college, since — increasingly — employers are scrutinizing credit reports as a part of the hiring process.
Nationally recognized financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz, author of three books on student aid, puts it this way: “A student loan default on your credit history will make it more difficult to get credit cards, auto loans, home mortgages. It can even affect your ability to get a job or rent an apartment. Student loans are almost impossible to discharge in bankruptcy. A successful discharge requires demonstrating undue hardship in an adversary proceeding, a very harsh standard. Of roughly 72,000 borrowers in bankruptcy in 2008, only 29 had all or part of their federal student loans discharged. That’s 0.04%. You are more likely to get cancer or die in a car crash than to have your student loans discharged in bankruptcy.”
If you haven’t yet seen Adam Carroll’s powerful, entertaining TEDx video on student loan debt, please see it now.
Click here.
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News & World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Bluesky @jburlowski.bsky.social.
No part of this article was written using AI.