Olivia Grace graduated from college in 2014 with no student loan debt due to receiving adequate scholarships. However, many U.S. college graduates take on substantial debt, with the average being $29,400 in 2012. The high costs of tuition, room and board, textbooks, and other expenses force some students to leave college or choose less expensive schools. While estimated costs of attendance are provided, the reality is often higher, especially for off-campus housing. Despite the debt burden, many see a college degree as a worthwhile investment, though improved financial literacy is still needed regarding student loans.

1. Olivia Grace woke up on May 10, 2014 ready to accomplish something many never
do. It was the day of her college graduation, and she couldn't wait to get her diploma.
Grace and her family had already celebrated earlier that week. There had been cake,
balloons, and even gifts. But Grace still didn't feel like it was the right time to celebrate
until after she had walked across that stage. Until after her name was called, and the
diploma was in her hands. Until after she could take off her black cap and gown--nearly
identical to the one she'd worn four years prior when graduating high school. But this was
a different feeling from four years before, she noted. When you graduate high school, you
know there's still more left--more classes, more teachers, more homework. Now, all of
those things would be over. As soon as the diploma was in her hands.
Grace and her mom, aunt, and grandmother arrived extra early to the Reaves
auditorium in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Grace wanted to be sure nothing would hold
her back on this day, that nothing could get in between her and that piece of paper. She
slipped the black frock on over her dress and secured the ill-fitting cap to her head. She
took her place in a cramped gymnasium, alongside the rest of the students she'd attended
Methodist University with, the classmates she'd leave behind on this day. Grace waited as
names were called. Hour after hour passed. Then finally, it was her turn.
"Olivia Grace." The name rang out across the gym.
Grace scurried across the stage, shook the necessary hands, smiled the necessary
smiles, and then took that prized diploma. Finally, it was hers. She walked back to her
seat, where her family was eagerly awaiting her arrival, and listened as the rest of the
names were called. She was Olivia Grace, college graduate, and she was done with
school.

2. Sadly, many students aren't in Olivia Grace's position when they finish college. They
don't have the option to "leave school behind," because they're plagued with student debt
for years following their graduations. Grace was lucky enough to find adequate
scholarships to cover her tuition at the university she attended, and secure a job on
campus to earn extra money for other expenses. Many U.S. college grads aren't so
fortunate. In 2012, 71% of college graduates took out student loans, graduating with an
average of $29,400 in student loan debt (Hal, 2014). That year, UNCW graduates
completed their schooling with an average of over $25,000 in debt (Pinno, 2014).
According to North Carolina news station WECT, "Lawmakers said the student loan debt
is hurting our economy, and it has reached an all time high of $1.3 trillion, making it
higher than the U.S. credit debt (Pinno, 2014)." Because college educations are causing
American students to go into thousands of dollars of debt, many are being forced to
choose between a clean credit history and an education.
Alisha McNabb graduated high school in 2010 with her sights set on college. She
attended Queens University that August and fell in love with the school. She made
friends, joined a sorority, and buckled down in her classes. Then, after only a semester,
money ran out and she was faced with a cold reality. McNabb would have to leave school
or take out student loans. After much thought, she ultimately decided to quit school, as
she was fearful of amounting debt and didn't want to risk financial ruin should she not be
able to pay those debts off. It has been four years since McNabb made that decision, and
she still has not been financially able to reenroll to make her dreams of graduating college
come true.
So how do college expenses rack up so easily? UNCW's Financial Aid webpage goes

3. into detail about what costs students can expect at the university: "Each college or
university determines an estimate of how much it will cost to attend school. An estimated
cost of attendance (COA) is designed to assist students with their educational expenses
for the academic year. An estimated cost of attendance includes direct and indirect costs.
Direct costs include charges a student pays directly to the university, for example, tuition
and fees. Indirect costs include expenses the student will likely incur but will not pay
directly to the university. Transportation is an example of an indirect cost. Each student's
cost of attendance is based upon full-time enrollment and residency. ("Financial Aid,"
2014)." UNCW's estimated cost of attendance for the 2014-2015 school year is $21,308,
with over $4,000 going to tuition and more than $9,000 to room and board. This figure
also factors in about $1,000 for textbooks, $1,600 for transportation and $1,600 for health
insurance, and several other expected costs ("Financial Aid," 2014).
This $21,308 price tag is, again, just an estimate. It does not take into account some
students who eat at places other than on-campus, or grocery shop for themselves, and
therefore spend more money than what they have paid for their meal plan. Even if a
UNCW student wants to live in an on-campus dorm and opt out of a meal plan, instead
wanting to grocery shop and keep track of a food budget, UNCW does not allow this.
Meal plans are actually forced on students who live in most of UNCW's on-campus
residential facilities, putting students who might otherwise budget their grocery bills in a
financial strain. The meal plan costs are set by UNCW's Board of Trustees and even have
the right to increase in price ("Academic Catalogue: Expenses," 2014).
Something else not factored into the $21,308 total cost of attendance is that many
students choose off-campus living, which can cost much more than the $5,624 the

4. university's website has allocated for housing. In 2012, about 11,743 undergraduate
students were enrolled at UNCW yet the university's academic catalogue admits that their
eight residence halls only hold a little over 4,000 students ("Academic Catalogue:
Expenses," 2014). This means over half of the UNCW student population must live off-
campus, facing higher living costs than the UNCW cost of attendance estimates. The
average rent charged in North Carolina is $759 a month, and $844 in Wilmington
("Wilmington, NC Housing and Real Estate," 2014). This makes the average off-campus
student's total cost for housing over $10,000 a year, much higher than UNCW's estimated
$5,624.
On top of food and living costs are the textbooks that students must buy for their
classes. Students pay about $1000 every school year for textbooks. CNBC reported that
"between 2002 and 2013, the price of college textbooks rose 82 percent—nearly three
times the rate of inflation (Weisbaum, 2014)." The United States Public Interest Research
Group (PIRG) published a report called "Fixing the Broken Textbook Market," which
"suggests that students who are already struggling to afford college may do things that
undermine their education to deal with the rising costs of their books (Weisbaum, 2014)."
"That conclusion is based on a survey of more than 2,000 students from more than 150
different campuses across the country conducted last fall. 65 percent said they had
decided against buying a textbook because it was too expensive. Nearly half (48 percent)
said the cost of books had an impact on how many or which classes they took. 94 percent
of the students who had skipped buying a required book said they were concerned that
doing this would hurt their grade in that course. 'Not only are students choosing not to
purchase the materials they are assigned by their professor, but they are knowingly

5. accepting the risk of a lower grade to avoid paying for the textbook,' the study concluded.
(Weisbaum, 2014)."
If student loans are such a debt-causing issue, why, then, do so many students apply
for them? According to Grace, who worked in the financial aid department at her
university, a lot of students don't quite understand the loans they apply for.
"Speaking in generalities, the thing I saw the most was students not truly
understanding how a loan really works (such as interest and whatnot). Those students that
brought in their parents tended to fair better when requesting loan amounts. However,
those who didn't would often request the maximum possible for their loans (even if they
didn't need it all), just so that they may have "pocket money," not understanding what this
would do for their interest. Another main problem I noticed was that often times students
couldn't even qualify for a loan due to credit, or lack there of. So, they would have to
depend on their parents and that would tend to pose a problem as well."
This was an issue that student Michael Brumfield faced when applying for college.
"When I applied for student loans, it was rather difficult because I didn't have enough
credit history. They were asking me to get someone who would cosign my loan because
of that. I had to ask my mom if she would be a cosigner for the loans I was taking out. It
turned out that she didn't even qualify as a cosigner, so then they told me I could qualify
by myself, as an independent student, and then I was basically approved. So it was
obviously a long ordeal and pretty complicated. Luckily, though, I did get my loans in the
end. I get about $11,400 a year in loans, and my tuition is about $13,650 a year. The rest
of what I owe for tuition is covered by grants that I applied for, which I won't ever have
to pay back. That's definitely nice."

6. Despite some students being uneducated about the loans they decide to take out, it
appears that many students are getting to be more savvy with paying the debts off.
"Knowing I'll have to pay back the $22,800 can be pretty overwhelming when you
think about it, but I know it's possible to do," said Brumfield. "See, at my school, they
allow different payment plans, which are really helpful. My plan now is to start paying
back my loans during my final year so I can get a jumpstart on it. I don't want to wait
until after graduating, like some people do. Just like I do with my utility bill, I plan on
putting part of my paycheck aside every month to go toward paying off my student loans.
That's the smart way to pay them off...the only way, really."
According to WECT, "UNCW students say they have turned the corner when it
comes to student loans, and they are slamming the door on debt (Pinno, 2014)." Some
students are applying for as many scholarships as they can, hoping that the scholarships
will fully cover the cost of their tuition. For those who don't qualify for scholarships,
many are choosing to get a job to help pay for college expenses, as Grace did during her
four years of school. The Huffington Post reports that "Nearly 4 out of 5 college students
are working part-time while studying for their degrees, averaging 19 hours a week, but
just 18 percent pay their way through school," according to a survey conducted by Citi
Bank and Seventeen Magazine (Kingkade, 2013). The survey, 2013 College Student
Pulse, found that "Forty-one percent [of college students] rely on financial aid. Students
are also slightly more likely than parents to fund their housing in school, 31 percent of
students compared to 30 percent of parents footing the bill. (Kingkade, 2013)."
Citi managing director Linda Descano said, "Kids used to rely on the bank of mom
and dad. So many families are trying to work themselves out of the financial impact of

7. the Great Recession (Kingkade, 2013)."
"Sixty-one percent of students said in the Citi survey that college costs more than
they expected. Part of the reason could be that room and board and other fees often is
larger than the cost of in-state tuition at public colleges, where a majority of students get
their degrees. Students identified in the survey a number of ways they plan to scrimp in
college, including 7 in 10 planning to avoid using a car, rent textbooks or work longer
hours. Ninety-five percent said they'd take advantage of student discounts, 94 percent
plan to purchase used books and 88 percent said they will buy groceries instead of dining
out. Despite the large cost of a higher education, 94 percent of respondents believe
college is a good investment (Kingkade, 2013)."

8. Works Cited
"Academic Catalogue: Expenses." University of North Carolina Wilmington. 2014.
Accessed November 20, 2014.
Bundrick, Hal. "How to Pay Off $30,000 of Student Debt in 3 Years." U.S. News.
May 4, 2014. Accessed November 18, 2014.
"Financial Aid." University of North Carolina Wilmington. 2014. Accessed
November 23, 2014.
Kingkade, Tyler. "Most College Students Work Part-Time Jobs, But Few Pay Their
Way Through School: Poll." The Huffington Post. August 7, 2013. Accessed November
20, 2014.
Pinno, Stacey. "UNCW Students Tell Us Their Plan to Stay out of Student Loan
Debt." WECT. August 21, 2014. Accessed November 19, 2014.
Weisbaum, Herb. "College Textbook Costs More Outrageous than Ever." CNBC.
January 28, 2014. Accessed November 18, 2014.
"Wilmington, NC Housing & Real Estate." Area Vibes. January 1, 2014. Accessed
November 19, 2014.

9. Source List
Brumfield, Michael: 706-816-5226, muhterials@hotmail.com
Grace, Olivia: 910-551-6341, oliviagabrielle92@yahoo.com
McNabb, Alisha: 315-651-8710, n/a

10. Source List
Brumfield, Michael: 706-816-5226, muhterials@hotmail.com
Grace, Olivia: 910-551-6341, oliviagabrielle92@yahoo.com
McNabb, Alisha: 315-651-8710, n/a