Final Essay

Lucas Leydon
English 1A
Williams
20 December 2013
                                           Student Loans and How They Keep Us Down

      In the United States today, there is a societal narrative that imposes the need to go to college and get a degree in order to be successful. With this concept of  "College = Success" in every young persons mind, there is a huge urgency to work towards and get accepted to a "name-brand" university, which in turn creates a huge demand for students to take out loans. We are seeing countless students taking out loans while they do not know the full extent of their actions. Books like The Rich and the Rest of Us and documentaries like "The College Conspiracy" are pulling the curtains on the true workings of aspects of the U.S. economy and are giving us information that enable us to form an educated opinion on how navigate our way in it. We must strive to understand and overcome the injustices that stare us directly in the face. The current student loan crisis is creating a society of indentured servants, corrupt loan agencies, and an economic bubble that is soon to pop.

      Students today are naively taking out student loans and unknowingly signing up to become indentured servants to banks and loan agencies. For those enrolling in college, the need for student loans are such a common place thing that many people do not even second guess weather taking out a loan works in their best interest; they feel they have to. In the 2009-2010 school year alone there was $106 billion dollars worth of student loans taken out (The College Conspiracy). With interest rates continually on the rise, we are setting our future graduates up for a life of never ending student loan debt. Just as the lady in the documentary "The College Conspiracy" has been paying off her dental school loans for the past 30 years, and is still no where close to paying them off (she owes almost twice as much as her initial loan due to interest rates), students every day are being lured into the trap of student loans that are virtually impossible to pay off. "Poverty is 21st-century-style slavery" (The Rich and the Rest of Us). I feel that students are being taken advantage of with the high costs of tuition in schools today. There are other countries who's educational systems are completely free, while we are struggling just to pay for tuition, let alone the rest of our everyday needs such as food, rent, and bills. While tuition goes up, our economy  remains stagnant, or on the decline, which drags us further into a state of poverty. With the need of a "good education" ingrained in our society's disposition, we are left vulnerable to banks and other loan organizations who sugar coat loan contracts that initially sound like a good deal but later turn out to work against our favor. This is a new form of slavery, entrapping us in a system that keeps us on a leash (debt) with no practical means of becoming financially stable. When big businesses and corporations catch wind of this Achilles heel in the people of society, they viciously begin to plot ways in which they can turn this into a money making scheme in their favor.

      The student loan market is becoming increasingly overrun with corrupt loan policies, impossible interest rates, and flat out scams that encourage young people to take out student loans. With cases such as the "pharmacist shortage hoax", we are seeing loan agencies take advantage of the impressionable future generation by finding ways to manipulate them into thinking they are getting a good deal and doing the right thing to ensure their future, but in reality are blindly signing up for a life time of debt. These loan companies are able to lure prospect college students in by giving them interest rates that sound "good" on the surface, but really only benefit themselves in the long run. The college education system has been said to be the "biggest scam in American history" (The College Conspiracy).  "There has been something crude, heartless, and unfeeling in our haste too succeed and be great" (The Rich and the Rest of Us). I feel college students are the perfect target for these banks and loan agencies to take advantage of because the average young person is too blinded by the glorified ideal of what it means to be successful in today's society that they don't do the research that is necessary and are all to willing to sign up for "quick money" if someone is willing to give it to them. In "The College Conspiracy", we heard of the epidemic of people using student loan money for non-educational purposes, and even cases of people taking out student loans without even being enrolled in school! I feel our society's high values we place on materialism negatively affects the issue of student loans and the people's eagerness to sign up for "quick money" not knowing the full extent of their actions. Ultimately, the student loan crisis will reach a breaking point where loan agencies will not be able to sustain the amount of money being "loaned" with the lack of return, which will result in a very negative affect on the U.S. economy.

      Our economy is on a direct course to experiencing the pop of the student loan bubble. With the federal reserve continuing to print out more and more money, the value of the American dollar is diminishing from the status as the world's reserve currency. When people are buried so far into debt to the point of no return, a bail out from the government is the only thing that can provide hope for financial stability. The problem with a bail out is that the money comes from the average American's tax dollars, which further hampers the economy and economic growth. We are in the midst of a hyper inflationary great depression where prices for food, energy and other common goods will skyrocket leaving the average citizen unable to afford the basic necessities.  "Although the government and media would like you to believe the U.S. economy is going through a recovery, the truth is the U.S. economy is on life support" (The College Conspiracy). The average person may not be aware of the implications how their everyday involvement with certain aspects of society can have negative consequences. Issues such as a bail out may sound like a good solution to the person who is in debt, but to the average person whos tax dollars are being spent, this could feel like robbery. It is our job as a society to find ways to educate and assist our fellow citizens in ways that positively affect society as a whole.  I feel that the use of social media can play one of the biggest roles in spreading awareness of the current issue of trapping students into life time student loans and the harmful effects it has on our economy.

      Student loans are becoming a great obstacle in the path of those who wish to receive a quality education in the United States today. With the luring accessibility of student loans, we are experiencing an epidemic of students making bad decisions for their financial future by volunteering a life time of debt in order to be granted access to quick money. The current student loan crisis is creating a society of indentured servants, corrupt loan agencies, and an economic bubble that is soon to pop. An educated poverty class? Hmm... Something doesn't sound right about that...