Limited by Loans

By Yeidimar Ramos

I feel that student loans exist to tie us to a system and do not to provide us the opportunity to grow academically and be professionally free. The average tuition to attend college in United States is ridiculously high. Many students here have to work while studying, but if their major is too time-consuming, they find themselves forced to take a loan that exceeds their tuition bill to also cover living expenses.

The thing is that sometimes banks — for their own advantage, of course — approve disproportionate loans and our socioeconomic reality does not guarantee that we are going to find a job right away that provides us enough income to meet the required monthly loan payments. This and the interest that the loan acquires, which make students pay more than the amount lended, seems to be some type of punishment when all we are seeking is to become professionals in our field.

One of the problems is that since students have to pay their loan less than a year after graduating, they often find themselves accepting the first job offer in order to be able to meet the loan payments and not fall behind on the payments. This lead students to accept jobs with minimum or low wages that primarily cover the cost of loan repayment and may not further their careers.

Student debt make us financially limited and has a significant emotional toll. Student loans, combined with the possibility of buying a car and how, seem to establish a precedent of a lifetime of debt. This comes as a result of our aspirations for becoming professionals and gaining a degree that allows us to contribute to our society. It is incredible how being self-taught or finding a job right after high school would give you similar outcomes than enrolling in a higher education institution. For students, life can be a never-ending debt that begins with attending college.

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