Kentuckians collectively owe more than $20 million in student loan debt, and a new informal survey sheds light on how high student loan payments are affecting the lives of borrowers across the Commonwealth.
Research from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy found nearly one in five inhabitants have student debt, including 20,000 people at retirement age or close to retirement age.
Ashley Spalding, director of research at the Centre, said the situation is preventing many people from buying a home, starting a business or accessing health care.
“Wages aren’t going up that much, and the cost of college is skyrocketing, and interest rates have been high on those loans,” Spalding explained.
The US Department of Education estimates over the past year that it has forgiven more than $17 billion in debt for more than 700,000 borrowers. The Biden administration’s pause on student loan repayments is set to expire on August 31. Experts said it’s still unclear whether the break will be extended into the fall.
Louisville resident Celine Mutuyemaria said she currently has more than $100,000 in student loan debt and said her financial situation is affecting her mental health.
“It affects me in many ways,” Mutuyemaria stressed. “I actually have a lot of anxiety about if and when student loan repayments will resume.”
She added that her student loans are negatively affecting her credit rating, which is a hindrance to her dream of owning a home.
“I think home ownership seems really out of my sight right now because of the burden of my student loans,” Mutuyemaria lamented.
The White House too recently announced it would be cancel student loans of all former Corinthian Colleges students, after investigations found the for-profit colleges defrauded students, the largest loan release by the federal government to date.
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Colleges and universities have had to rethink higher education during the pandemic and make the learning experience more flexible. A new program at Morgan State University focuses on degrees for adult learners returning to school.
His College of Interdisciplinary and Continuing Studies offers non-traditional students, returning students, working adults, and others the opportunity to complete a degree, drawing in part on their own knowledge and work experience. Nicholas Vaught, acting assistant dean of academics and student success at Morgan State, said they could be transfer students or former students who attended anywhere from two to 40 years ago.
“I think one of the things that’s going to push students into the programs is not just the ease of enrollment,” he said, “but, ‘Do I have someone to talk to? college? Do I have an advisor who knows me? I think that’s going to really set us apart.”
Vaught said students can transfer up to 90 credits toward their degree and can take classes on campus or online. The college launched its first cohort last spring with a dozen students. For the fall semester, Vaught said they are on track to admit about 200.
A report by Gallup and Lumina Foundation revealed that approximately one-third of undergraduate students have recently considered “quitting” school due to personal difficulties. Vaught said interdisciplinary programs have broader requirements, which can help make a degree more accessible.
“These are people who work full time, sometimes with young children or adult children,” he said. “We can work with the students like, ‘Hey, I can only take two classes at a time, because I know how long it’s going to take. But I’m going to find a course that will allow me to keep moving efficiently but without being overloaded.'”
Morgan State’s interdisciplinary program offers eight undergraduate degrees in subjects including engineering, information and computational sciences, health, and human services. It also offers five master’s programs and five doctoral programs. Vaught added that the in-state tuition rate will apply to all college students, regardless of residency status.
Support for this report was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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A new investigation of 28,000 high school students, more than one in four changed their life plans during the pandemic.
In 2019, 25% of students planned to attend a two-year college; now down to 19%.
Jennifer Wilka, executive director of YouthTruth, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that specializes in student surveys, said the disruption was more pronounced for certain groups.
“There were many, many more differences for certain groups of students,” Wilka reported. “Including Hispanic or Latinx students, Black or African American students, LGBTQ+ boys, and students attending very poor schools.”
Compared to 2019, fewer children said they wanted to go to community college, more LGBTQ+ students said they were considering dropping out, and more seniors said they were unsure about their next move. The survey found that financial stress played an important role, as did battles with anxiety and depression.
Wilka pointed out that many students are overwhelmed with grief and struggling to adjust to distance learning.
“They feel like time has stood still,” Wilka explained. “They’ve lost their study skills, a lot of them have lost their focus, their motivation, you know, they’ve lost, lost people they cared about. So those are absolutely trends that are coming out loud and clear. .”
The survey found that fewer kids are connecting with school counselors these days to talk about college or financial aid. Wilka would like states to better fund schools, so they can bolster their counseling staff and provide more targeted interventions for groups of students who are struggling to get back on track.
Support for this report was provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
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Maine education officials are encouraging residents who never graduated from high school to return to adult education and complete the High school equivalency test (HiSET).
Maine has used the HiSET since 2014. It is made up of five sections: reading, writing, math, science, and social studies.
Joe Fagnant, principal of Houlton/Hodgdon Adult and Community Education, said it has become more difficult in recent years to get a well-paying job without a high school diploma.
“We know it will open so many more opportunities and so many more doors,” Fagnant said. “Including the new deal the community college system has made to offer free community college for graduates of the class of 2020, ’21, ’22 and ’23.”
He noted that this includes adult learners who complete the HiSET. Maine has more than 60 adult education programs, and as of 2020, more than 1,700 Mainers have taken HiSET. Fagnant noted that there is no cost for the test or prep classes, and those who may have taken or passed part of the exam can come back later to complete it.
Fagnant added that the pay difference for an entry-level job can be drastically different depending on the education level of the workers. He pointed out that some companies require a high school diploma but struggle to find applicants, so they work with adult education to find people who would be a good fit and help them graduate.
“The labor market has also changed in the last two years because of COVID and the pandemic, where people are paying higher wages,” Fagnant acknowledged. “But with that, you also have more competition to find a quality candidate.”
He pointed out that there are many directions students can take with those two years of community college, including directly into the job market, or they can transfer the credits and work toward a bachelor’s degree.
Studies have shown at age 35, workers with a bachelor’s degree are twice as likely to be in a good job as those with only a high school diploma.
Support for this report was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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