Student Loans
I want to put you in the shoes of a graduating senior in my neighborhood. Odds are this individual lives below the federal poverty line (about 2 out of 3 children do). More than likely their parent/guardian does not have a high school diploma (less than 50% of adults graduated high school) and is probably functionally illiterate (85-90% of adults fall into this category). One of the tickets out of the low income neighborhood cycle is college. Higher education puts you at a higher income bracket and gives you more opportunities and connections.
However signing up for college isn’t easy when you don’t have support around you. We have experienced people struggling to file their FAFSA because it’s a complicated form. Also the later you file, the lower chance you have at better financial aid. We have parents that have not filled it out quickly because they don’t necessarily trust sending the information out and/or don’t understand what they need to fill out (I’ll emphasize here that most of our adults are functionally illiterate).
With these challenges, when a student sits down with financial aid, they will look to provide student loans in order to keep the student there, not always telling them what it will take to pay them back and the long-term ramifications of it. Even if they do, let’s take a look at what it would cost a student entering into our local state school, Cleveland State University:
-According to their website, the cost for a full-time student for the year is $30,284. That includes room and board (about half of that) and other fees you may have.
-In order to pay that off in full debt free, you would need to work full time at $14.55 an hour!
-This also doesn’t include intangible costs (e.g. laundry, books, clothing, gas, tithe if you’re going to church, etc.)
-Going to school full-time and working full time is doable but also challenging, especially when you are 18 and your support system is not with you.
The student loans topic is so complicated and layered but what do we do about this? How can we support our teenagers in fulfilling their calling and pursuit of higher education?
Build relationships. We know firsthand that it’s better to be there in relationship with teenagers in order to help them make the right choices. Like I said before, it’s so hard if you don’t have support. Be willing to get to know young people and hear their hearts and passion. Hear the calling they sense and build them up.
Listen to others stories. I think when we take time to hear how people have made it to this point, we gain a stronger understanding of our world, not just higher education. Listen to what others had to deal with and understand the world in their shoes.
Recognize we all can do something. Am I asking you to give $30,000 to send a young person to school? No not at all. Am I asking you to find a random teenager and mentor them? Not necessarily. Am I asking you to do something? Yes! Here are three very tangible things you can do.
Learn about the culture of low income neighborhoods. I would suggest Bridges out of Poverty.
Serve a college readiness program or an out of school time program. As the Tavern opens, we are planning to provide college readiness as we help the young people in Buckeye. We also work with some high schoolers at The Learning Center.
Give to a cause that support young people. Normally I’d say give to us but one other organization I’d suggest is College Now. They help students in cleveland public schools get into colleges by helping with the applications, paying the fees, and obtaining scholarships.