P2 Blog Post

Andrew Onofrietti

September 30, 2016

Blog 2

            The articles I chose to read were “College Grads Struggle to Gain Financial Footing” by Jennifer Ludden and “ 9 Unbelievable Student Loan Horror Stories” by Mandi Woodruff. I decided to focus on “Costs and Student Loans” because I thought it would be an interesting topic as I am in college currently. Fortunately I am not in this situation but a surprising amount of my friends are. The major problem with student loans appears to be with corporations aimed at fixing student loans, like Sallie Mae. Another issue is the impossibility of repaying student loans due to the debt that’s already piled up. I plan to solve both of these problems in P2 as they go hand in hand. I’d like to solve these problems because with the rising amount of both debt and students who require loans, a solution really needs to be found.

            Reading some of the debt stories got me thinking about how quickly your debt can pile up. Certain degrees are no longer viable in today’s market. In extreme cases, a lack of financial responsibility isn’t even the culprit; it’s the sheer magnitude of the debts they have to repay. This is just wild to me.

            One possible solution I can think of is actually the “UC Student Investment Proposal” because it relies on graduates and their alma maters equally. The article proposes that undergraduates at the UC pay nothing because the university will be receiving their payment from graduates instead. It forces universities to invest their future in their students. Also, it reinforces the belief that “you get out what you put in” because universities rely on the income of graduates. There will be a stronger emphasis on finding jobs for graduates which was coincidentally another problem graduates with loads of debt had. I jus think that with this proposal, college would be worry free from a financial standpoint, and by the time you’re required to start paying your loans, you’ll actually be financially stable.

            The proposal also includes how the shift could occur. First, all students earning full-ride scholarships would immediately be put into this program. These first students will still attend college without any payments, but will pay later when they graduate. The money that would’ve gone towards scholarships is then put towards other needs. Eventually, the entire university will be apart of this program.   

The major stakeholders for this proposal would mainly be students and universities. Students are stakeholders because they gain the peace of mind of not having to take out loans and acquire debt. Universities are stakeholders because they could potentially lose money if not everything in the proposal goes right. This issue is exigent for universities and students because student debt is deterring potential students from college altogether. The students would not be the primary audience for this proposal because they don’t really have the power to implement any of the actions. Rather, universities would be the main stakeholders as they can actually implement what the proposal calls for.

Students displaying their debt on graduation day, see link for media: http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/wp-content/uploads/studentdebt31515.jpg