The battle to fix higher education

A large looming issue that President-elect Donald Trump will have to face over the next four years is the enormous amount of student debt that affects over 40 million people in the U.S.

Over the past couple years, student debt has grown to $1.3 trillion.

Students who graduated in 2016 now owe on average $37,000 in student loans, which is a 6 percent annual increase, and earn a salary averaging between $18,000 and $43,000, depending on where they live, according to insighinttodiversity.com.

Student loan debt grows at an estimated rate of $2,726.27 per second.

If Trump were to address this overwhelming issue and fix the problem, then that would put a lot of millennials’ minds at ease as they the workforce? after graduating college.

To look at this issue on a more local level, in the past for Bloomsburg University, student costs have steadily increased by a couple hundred dollars each year. Looking at the 2016-2017 school year, there was a new fee introduced called the Student Success Fee, which added $300 to the bill.

Other fees Bloomsburg University students pay, as well as other students at similar universities, include a meal plan, an academic enhancement fee, community activity fee, a health services/ wellness fee, a housing charge, a recreation center fee, a registration and transcript fee, a student union operation fee, a technology tuition fee, a transportation fee, a tuition-undergrad charge, a utility charge, and a parking permit if they have a car.

This cost break-down of a college tuition bill shows that the college itself will bill a student for basically anything they can. Next they will be charging students to be able to breathe on campus.

Looking on a larger scale, in the state of Pennsylvania over the past five years’ tuition has raised by 13 percent. This year alone tuition has increased by 2.5 percent.

While on the campaign trail, and since winning the presidential elect, Trump has not stated specifics on what he plans to do about higher education, but he has made some statements that show what direction he would like to go towards.

To combat the debt issue Trump plans to drastically cut back the federal governments involvement in higher education. Right now as it stands the federal government makes a profit off of student loans, at a rate of about $50 billion per year. The Congressional Budget Office says it’s $1.6 billion in the black for the year, which means it’s around a 1.6% margin, which really wouldn’t be unusual. Remember that if it weren’t coming out ahead, it would have to tax us to pay the rest. Trump has also voiced concern over rising tuition costs, implying that the federal programs made to aid students are actually holding them back by allowing colleges to raise costs on impulse.

The federal government’s main involvement in higher education is funding awards through student aid and research grants. The funding goes towards students at public, private, and for- profit colleges, as well as to researchers at public and private institutions.

Another way Trump wants to address the issue is tackling the student loan system. Presently, repaying of student loans sits at a threshold of 10 percent over 20 years. Trump proposes to change this to 12.5 percent of income for 15 years before the debt would be forgiven.

Trump also feels that schools should share the menace. He believes they should play a role in determining loan worthiness factors that go past family income, specifically considering students’ future earnings in deciding whether or not to lend. This idea could be good or bad depending on what the student is majoring in. Those who plan on getting a liberal arts degree might be turned away because job security is not as high for journalists, compared to doctors.

Another issue that also has to do with higher education that Trump needs to address has to do with an idea that his opponents mentioned during the campaigns, one that many millennials seemed to favor. The idea that many millennials seemed to back was the promise of a free college education from the democratic party. Trump’s position on this subject is that he intends to fight these proposals. He would also decline President Barack Obama’s proposals for a state-federal partnership to make community college free for new high school graduates.

Student debt is a complicated, serious and large issue that Trump will certainly have to address over the next four years. Some statements that he has made thus far seem reasonable, others not so much. This is something that is not uncommon to hear from Trump. Only time will tell what Trump will actually do and if those actions will aid millennials or if it will hinder them even more.