Students reflect on avoiding debt

In a time of economic uncertainty for many college students and their families, students across the country are going to great lengths to avoid debt.

Students attempt to take on full-time jobs in addition to their more-than-full-time course loads and choose colleges based on their tuition rates. This burden, however, does not seem to loom as large for some students at IU who see loans as an unavoidable necessity.

“I probably have about 80 grand in student loans,” said AJ O’Reilly, a senior studying graphic design. “My entire tuition is paid for by loans, housing and everything. Right now, I feel fine about it. After graduation, I might feel differently. It’s one of those things where you say, ‘This sucks, and who knows what’s going to happen?’ But me stressing out about it isn’t going to get me out of debt.”

O’Reilly said he believes working full-time while simultaneously enrolled full-time is “crazy.” He said he didn’t see how he could bear that kind of responsibility while still being involved in the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities a university provides.

“I’m working and taking classes,” he said. “I’m on the Union Board. I’m on the go from 8 a.m. to midnight. Staying out of debt doesn’t mean you’re less lazy than those who do have debt.”

Claire Glezer, a freshman studying for a double major in political science and international studies, had a similar attitude toward undergraduate student loans.

“I think there’s a certain time that you just gotta not do that,” she said, referring to simultaneous heavy course loads and work loads. “I don’t have a job right now because I want to focus more on school, and I know I wouldn’t do as well if I went overboard like that. School’s important. I don’t think risking your education is worth it.”

Sean Morrison, a senior in journalism, said loans are something he and his friends “don’t really think about all that much,” and O’Reilly confirmed the same was true for him and his friends.

“We talk about it sometimes, but there’s no way around it,” O’Reilly said.

Morrison said he believes what sets IU students apart from others in their attitude toward loans is the high value students place on education — a benefit, he said, that cannot be concretely measured in the way debt can.

“As for the loans, it’s a means to an end,” Morrison said. “You know it’s something you need to do, regardless. It’s just like going to class, applying for scholarships, applying for internships. We don’t think about it because it’s just something we have to do to get what we want: a degree.”