UNCG Alumni Magazine - UNC Greensboro

So if scholarships, grants and a part-time job aren't enough, then comes the scariest word of all — debt. When I graduated in the early '90s, I started my professional life $5,000 in debt. With my first job paying considerably less than $20,000, it was a struggle. But look at what students are facing now. Nationally, on average, students leave college with $21,000 of debt. According to the Project on Student Debt, North Carolina's 2006 average was $17,760, with 55 percent of students graduating in debt.

In the June 11, 2006, New York Times Magazine, Elizabeth Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School and an expert on personal bankruptcy, said, “We tend to talk about student loans in the abstract, ‘Ten or 20 thousand dollars — it's not that much.’ But I think it's really about what it means to be 28 and try to make loan payments and health insurance premiums and still put something aside for a down payment for a house. Think about how much extra room you have to have in your budget to cover those three things. Most can't do it.”

Connors, of College Planning Specialists, knows about debt first-hand.

Graph: Is cost a contributing factor to continued enrollment.

As a high school junior in California, he learned that his parents were not able to help him pay for college. So he spent two years at a junior college and then began looking for ways to fulfill his dream of going to college out-of-state. He came to UNCG on a $1,500 athletic scholarship. That paid only a tenth of the tuition he had as an out-of-state student.

He found another $3,000 scholarship and then borrowed the rest. When he left he owed $50,000.

“I didn't apply for financial aid correctly,” he said. “If I had known then what I know now, I would have been only $10,000 to $12,000 in debt.”

Looking at potential debt leads to more questions. What kind of an education do I want for my children? Should they go to a university they can afford and walk away unhindered by debt? Or should they go to the school that allows them to follow their dreams — no matter what the cost? And if they do that, what if they want to work in a field that doesn't have high salaries? UNCG is known for its teaching and nursing graduates. Many more engage in some kind of nonprofit work. After all, UNCG's motto is service. Will they be able to pay off their college loans?

There may not be simple answers to those questions. Connors said students should identify their dream school early on, and see if it matches their abilities, interests and future career plans. “You cannot pick a college just based upon sticker price or because it's a student's dream school.”

For example, families may be surprised to find they can afford a private school because it may have more scholarship money than a public school. The key is to find the best match for a student. Students who are unhappy will either drop out (as 33 percent of all freshmen do) or transfer (51 percent of all students).

One of the positives about living in North Carolina is the state's dedication to higher education. The state constitution declares: “The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.”

OK, so it's not exactly free, but it is less expensive than many other university systems.

Nationally, the average for in-state tuition and fees at a four-year public university was $6,185 last year. UNCG? $4,029 — 34.9 percent less. The same holds true for out-of-state student tuition. The national average was $16,640 while UNCG's was $15,297. Of the 16 UNC universities,UNCG is ninth in cost.

Recommendations from UNC Tomorrow, an initiative to determine how the UNC system can respond to 21st century challenges facing the state, include increasing access to higher education for all North Carolinians. In fact, one finding directly states, “UNC should maintain affordability and increase financial aid options.”

Looking at data culled from the Census Bureau's 2004 American Community Survey, the UNC Tomorrow report shows that 32 percent of North Carolina families with children under the age of 18 earn less than $30,000 annually. One of the ways some families in recent years have paid for college, aside from personal savings and federal loans, is tapping into home equity loans. But 34 percent of North Carolina families with children under the age of 18 do not own their own homes.

However, there is good news. A survey by the National Association of State Student Grant Aid Programs notes North Carolina's $229.2 million in grants given to students is 13th out of the 50 states. Of that amount, need-based grants totaled $170 million — an 801 percent increase over the last 10 years.

My head is swimming. This is not the kind of thing I make sense of easily. One thing is clear — a college education is a necessity these days. So no matter what happens with college costs in the next 12 years, I expect the day will come when we will pack up the car and drop our son off at the college of his choice. And I can only hope he'll walk away with as much joy and confidence — and as few financial worries — as he did on his first day of first grade.

*www.finaid.org/savings/tuition-inflation.phtml

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