2008 Woodie Awards
Loan difficulties
Hannah Nelson. She can be reached at hnelson@student.umass.edu.
Issue date: 9/3/08 Section: Editorial / Opinion
All summer there's been a big to-do about the state of the economy and the loan company crisis. As these things tend to go, national turned local and Massachusetts college students received fewer grant and federal loan hand outs as part of financial aid packages for the 2008-2009 academic year.
Some nasty shocks were had in mailboxes everywhere this summer. By default, the state has practically sold our souls to the private loan companies. And even those private companies are in dire trouble themselves.
A year ago, private loan companies offered up their services to college students left and right. The problem is no longer one of having to sell your soul; it's now one of there being no devil to buy it. Stories are surfacing of students and their parents being denied by literally dozens of lenders. Many multi-purpose, private loan companies have let their student loan services be the first to suffer under the pretense of "lack of profitability" within the credit crisis nightmare.
The overused word that comes to mind is "underperforming." It gets thrown around a lot in academic and educational matters. But this time it isn't a school or a student - it's the state that's getting the label.
Massachusetts was already underperforming in comparison to other states before this festering sore of a loan crisis came along. Some officials claim that this has always been the fact of the matter due in part to the self sufficiency of big name private schools.
Classifying educational aid as a "secondary priority" because of the number of private college with their own funding is disgraceful. It just doesn't make sense in light of the fact that 40 percent of total state aid is allotted directly to students who are in attendance at private universities.
The salt is in the wound is when state leaders and experts are willing to admit that there are just no additional funds in the state's budget.
To talk percentages, Massachusetts covers only 4.8 percent of the costs faced by 40,000 students. That's nearly half the national average of 9.5 percent, and against Georgia's 47.3 percent, simply ridiculous. Of all the spending on higher education in the state, less than 10 percent is accorded specifically to financial aid.
Some nasty shocks were had in mailboxes everywhere this summer. By default, the state has practically sold our souls to the private loan companies. And even those private companies are in dire trouble themselves.
A year ago, private loan companies offered up their services to college students left and right. The problem is no longer one of having to sell your soul; it's now one of there being no devil to buy it. Stories are surfacing of students and their parents being denied by literally dozens of lenders. Many multi-purpose, private loan companies have let their student loan services be the first to suffer under the pretense of "lack of profitability" within the credit crisis nightmare.
The overused word that comes to mind is "underperforming." It gets thrown around a lot in academic and educational matters. But this time it isn't a school or a student - it's the state that's getting the label.
Massachusetts was already underperforming in comparison to other states before this festering sore of a loan crisis came along. Some officials claim that this has always been the fact of the matter due in part to the self sufficiency of big name private schools.
Classifying educational aid as a "secondary priority" because of the number of private college with their own funding is disgraceful. It just doesn't make sense in light of the fact that 40 percent of total state aid is allotted directly to students who are in attendance at private universities.
The salt is in the wound is when state leaders and experts are willing to admit that there are just no additional funds in the state's budget.
To talk percentages, Massachusetts covers only 4.8 percent of the costs faced by 40,000 students. That's nearly half the national average of 9.5 percent, and against Georgia's 47.3 percent, simply ridiculous. Of all the spending on higher education in the state, less than 10 percent is accorded specifically to financial aid.
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collegeloanconsultant
posted 9/03/08 @ 8:12 AM EST
Apparently Massachusetts politicians cannot even agree on whether there is a crisis, much less on what to do about it. In Kentucky, a similar situation arose, but state officials acted decisively to meet the crisis. (Continued…)
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