Student Loans: What happened to personal responsibility?

When I was 17, I considered many colleges. As the process unfolded, I realized I would have to stay close to home and attend a public college or university. This narrowed my choices to Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island. At the time (1994), RIC was about $2,900 per year (It’s about $5,000 now), about $1,500 per year less than URI. It was also much closer to my house. I was happy at RIC, but I didn’t consider it the perfect situation. At the time, I would have liked a more prestigious school, but thankfully I focused more on important criteria.

So, why am I bringing this up 16 years later? It’s because I read an article about a woman named Cortney Munna who racked up $97,000 in student loans because she insisted on attending a prestigious school. Ms. Munna and her mother are complaining about the large amount of debt and seem intent on placing blame on lenders for lending.

Ms. Munna is complaining that $22 per hour isn’t enough to pay the $700 loan payment. Personally, I think $22 is a good hourly wage, especially considering that she studied religion and women’s studies in college. The last time I checked, those fields weren’t exactly up there on the list of degrees or majors that will facilitate wealth. Business administration they are not.

The author of the article also tries to draw comparisons between student loans and subprime mortgages. There’s no doubt that there are commonalities. The biggest is that irresponsible, ill-informed people borrowed money they either can’t, or won’t repay. No matter how you try to explain the problem, that’s what it boils down to in the end.