The Pros And Cons Of College Debt

College debt is stopping people from perusing their dreams. One example of this is the story of a girl named Alejandra Lalama, who dreamed of having a career in audio engineering. After she set her heart on getting a degree at Full Sail Real World Education, she was forced to take out loans to pay for her schooling. Eight years later she had her hard-earned degree. However, she was unable to have her dream job, and she had to live with her mother while she worked in an overwhelming attempt to pay back her student loans. She regretted going to her first-choice college because it did not help her succeed in her asperation, and her college loans hindered her from continuing to chase her dream. Contrary to this, there are people who avoid going to college all together because they know that they cannot afford it without falling into a lifetime of debt. According to Sean McCollum’s article, “Drowning in debt”, student debt has surpassed the nations credit card debt by reaching over one trillion dollars. That is an intimidating number for anyone considering attending college. Whether it be because of …show more content…
The unemployment rate for people with a bachelor’s degree is only about 3%, from which we can conclude that college graduates have a good chance of being employed. In 2013 the Economic Policy Institute in Washington gathered data which revealed that Americans with college degrees were payed approximately 98% more than those without degrees. Clearly, having a college degree can make a huge difference in your success. A paper by Mr. Autor goes as far as to say that in the long run college costs, “Negative $500,000”. This number was calculated by Christopher Avery and Sarah Turner, two economists. There point was that after you get your degree you will make back your money and then some. Although college is expensive, if you can afford a degree, it is worth it in the long