The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

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Student loan default rates rise

The+financial+aid+office+at+Bucks
The financial aid office at Bucks
The financial aid office at Bucks

Hit by rising tuition costs
and a tough job market, the
number of college students
defaulting on their student
loans is on the rise.
According to Department of
education, at for-profit colleges
and universities, 15 percent
of student loan borrowers
defaulted in the first two years
of repayment, up from 11.6
percent the previous year.
At public institutions, the
rate was 7.2 percent, up from
6 percent, and at not-for-profit
private institutions, it was
4.6 percent, up from 4 percent.
“these hard economic times
have made it even more difficult
for student borrowers to
repay their loans,” education
Secretary Arne Duncan said in
a statement.
According to calculations by
the Institute for College
Access and Success, in 2008
the average debt for graduated
students who took out student
loans was $20,200 at public
universities, $27,650 at private
non-profit and $33,050 at
private for-profits.
Bucks President Dr. James
linksz said, “we are all concerned
that students take out
loans that may be difficult to
repay in the current climate.”
linksz explains that “we
work hard at telling students
not to take on more debt than
they absolutely need, even if it
is tempting to draw down
more money from an available
pool of funds.” he added that
“nothing beats coming to a
community college for the
first two years and then transferring
to a four-year college.”
linksz also noted that “federal
Pell grants may be cut
out, which in turn a lot of
Bucks students rely on.”
Brian Moran, interim president
and Ceo of the
Association of Private Sector
Colleges and universities,
said in published reports that
”We are disappointed to see
increases in … default rates
for our students, as well as
students in other sectors of
higher education.” he added
that for-profit schools were
taking steps to provide students
debt counseling in order
to bring down the rates.
the Department of
education eventually managed
to collect most of the
money it was owed from the
defaulters.
But for students, the consequences
of default can be
severe – a damaged credit rating,
greater difficulty in getting
financial aid, and so on
Ashley Ruszin, 18, a freshman
journalism major, has so
far taken out $5,000 in student
loans, and is worried about
being able to pay them back,
since she makes minimumwage
working at Dunkin
Donuts. her parents have said
they won’t help her pay them
back. “My parents didn’t even
want me to come here; they
wanted me to get out of here,”
she said.