A college education is a significant investment of time, effort, and money. For example, tuition at Middlebury College, a liberal arts college in Vermont, costs $64,332 a year. While most public universities cost significantly less than Middlebury’s exorbitant price, acquiring a college education remains a considerable five-to-six-digit investment over a four-year period. One of the means that many college students use to finance their education is student loans, which are paid for by our tax dollars.
This would suggest that students should be wise managing their loans.
However . . .
A study conducted by LendEDU discovered that 30.6% of college students use their loans to pay for their spring break trips. According to The New York Post, this rate is higher than a figure quoted in another study done last year; that study suggested roughly 20% of students spent their loans not only on spring break, but also on dining out and other forms of entertainment.
While using loans to pay for debauchery is not illegal, Greg McBride, a chief financial analyst of Bankrate.com, told The New York Post that “students should minimize their borrowing during their college years and live a sparse lifestyle.” He pointed out that some individuals feel compelled to spend their loan cash unwisely after seeing what other students do for their spring breaks.
Fiscal irresponsibility continues to be commonplace among the millennial generation, and it occurs on our dime. Unfortunately, many have also stated that the college loan program is a racket. Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA said the following in a PragerU video:
According to Bloomberg News, since 1978 the cost of a college education has gone up by over 1000 percent. Way past the rate of inflation. Tuition alone at many colleges is 20, 40, even 50 thousand dollars a year! So, how do you pay for it? Answer: student loans, loans that the government is happy to give you since they collect the interest. You don’t have to be a finance major to figure out that all these student loans give colleges no incentive to cut costs. Instead, it gives them every incentive to raise costs. Higher tuition obviously means more money for the college.
In other words, it is better to use student loan money to pay for a college education rather than use it for frivolous trips that one might regret ten years down the road.
