DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Introduction

 

The purpose of this study is to understand how college students grasp the idea of student loans, the whole loan process, and where their money finally ends up going once they repay their loan. There are many loan counselors and administrators that, when giving college students advice about taking out a loan whether it be private or public, neglect to give these students the correct, up to date, and necessary information that they need to properly make their decision. The student debt has come to be over one trillion dollars in recent years, and that is approximately one-sixteenth of the national debt. If your students, the people that will one day be the leaders, politicians, managers, laborers, builders, inventors, and tinkerers of the new era, are causing about 6% of your debt, there is something wrong with the student loan process. There must be someone or something that isn't doing it's job right. There's either something wrong with the way loans are given out, something wrong with the whole education system, or with both. If the average person that graduates with a degree from a four-year college has around $27,000 in debt, there isn't something wrong with the students; there is something wrong with the system. I, and every other student, am not to blame, at least not completely, for the debt we will accumulate because of school.

 

Research Questions

 

Throughout this research study, I will ask how the student loan process works. Also, I will ask where exactly is the money going that we pay back to the government or whoever is loaning us the money. I will also ask what is being done to aid those most affected by the student debt crisis, namely the students and their families. 

 

Methodology

 

I will conduct between five and ten interviews. I will interview people who are either in college or those who have recently graduated. These people are those who are going to be most affected by the student loan process. These people are the ones making the decisions to take out student loans, and they are making plans to pay them back. I will ask them questions such as: How does the student loan process work?; What happens when you leave college and have student loans to pay back?; Do you have a plan to pay back you student loans?; Are you aware of how your debt will affect you?; Will student debt affect the rest of our life?; Finding these people will be rather easy, as I am a college student myself. I will see if these college students and recent graduates know what they are really getting themselves into and if they know how to get themselves out.

 

Researcher Stance

 

I am a college student who has taken out student loans, and I expect to be in debt for around $25,000 when I graduate. The student loan process affects me, and the decisions that the government makes to change student loan policies directly affects me and my future. My student loan debt will follow me around for a long time. It will hang over my head and loom in my financial life for a while. I want to see exactly how other students see their lives with their debt and if they know what is really going on.

 

Conclusion

 

Hopefully this study will shed some light on what students really know and help administrators to tune their counseling to their students. Finding out what people really know is essential so that administrators and advisors can appeal to those whom they work for, the students.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.