This letter is in response to "Study shows students who graduate from college are more likely to be financially healthy" from March 27.
The easygoing tone of this article may be misleading to students. While the message seems to be screaming “borrow as much money as you want and never worry,” students quite frankly should worry.
Students should be educated on loan repayment programs, interest rates, their credit scores and budgeting strategies. A company who makes money off of giving out student loans, such as Navient, may beg to differ, though.
Attention should be paid to who authored the study mentioned in the text. Of course the largest servicer of student loans is going to advise not to worry about racking up loan debt. The more loans you take out, the more money they make.
The Navient representative goes as far to say “taking out loans to go to college does not hinder someone from success.” Well, that is debatable. How could anyone not be set back by $30,000 to $40,000 of debt? The study measures this so called “success” by whether or not someone has a house mortgage.
While some individuals may measure success by forms of possessions, others may measure it by happiness, physical and mental health, or personal relationships — all of which may be hindered by the stress and anxiety of debt.
So please, students, take the results of self-promoting research studies with a grain of salt. The Office of Student Financial Assistance is presenting loan repayment workshops April 4-8:
https://www.navient.com/assets/about/who-we-are/Money-Under-35-Study.pdf
Jordan Smith
Bloomington, IN
