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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 2010)
2 The Clackamas Print Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010 Loans defaulting nationwide Top 8 State Colleges and the Delau It Rates 300000 Number of 200000 Borrowers 100000 0 % Of Default Rates □ AZ. h CA. nFL. OIL. bny . dor . o PN. q TX. Source: U.S. Department of Education By Kyle Smith The Clackamas Print Student loans: many have them, and most will pay them off. Approximately one in twelve, however, will not pay, accord ing to the Stafford loan default rate report published by the U.S. Department of Education. Default is the legal term used when a debtor does not make payments on the money he or she owes. Regardless of the circum stances that lead to the failure to meet this financial obligation, defaulting can permanently scar one’s credit rating, making it dif ficult or impossible« to open a new credit line, buy a car, rent an apartment or buy a house. According to Chitpasong Bello, the financial aid direc tor at Clackamas Con^munity College, this year in particular marks a change for students as all Stafford loans, subsidized or un-subsidized. These loans are now obtained through the United States Department of Education, from the Federal Reserve Bank. Private lenders, such as Wells Fargo and Wachovia have been forced to sell their outstanding loans to the government. Such a change may not mean much to the average student who still has the same interest rate and payment amount, and has only to write a different name on the checks they mail each month. For those who can’t pay, however, it means they’re in debt not to a private company who may have a more lenient repayment policy, but to the federal government. The Department of Education has published a report of the rates of default for each institu tion every fiscal year, but this too is changing. “Now the rates will be calcu lated based on the most recent three years for each institution,” said Bello. “Why would anyone default if they had a choice?” said Robert Hill, a CCC student. “We’re in a time of (economic) depression right now. Rates of people going into school are higher than ever. It’s like, ‘Go to school, maybe get a little bit of money to help you survive, or just sink right now.’” Students are gambling with their futures as they either go to school, get a degree and find a job or they don’t and default on their loans, according to Hill. Clackamas has been fairing better than many other communi ty colleges in Oregon, according to the default rate reports based on the 2006, 2007 and 2008 fis cal years. Clackamas was fifth lowest in the state in 2008 with an 8.5 percent rate of default. This means that statistically about one in twelve people who take Stafford loans at CCC default on them after leaving college. “I would imagine, personally, that a large portion of the people who (don’t pay) are, in fact, peo ple that could not finish school for whatever reason,” said Jeremy Laughton, a Clackamas student working towards a political sci ence major. “For those who finish their degrees, I would say one of the large portions for them would be choosing a bad degree.” Laughton referenced boom job degrees in such fields as nurs ing and technical support, as well as degrees he believes are useless from the get-go. “For instance, I know a lot of people who complete an Associate of General Studies, which is a two year degree and it’s really quite worthless.” Laughton explained, “It doesn’t get you anywhere. As far as any job is concerned, it’s really just the same as a high school diploma, except it says you attended two more years of college and paid out the ass for it.” Whether they dropped out, graduated into a bad job market, picked a bum degree or spent too much time and money on a degree that didn’t pan out for as much as it looked like going in, ex-students in default are still in default. Only time will tell if more students or fewer will default as the economy and job market continues to dry up. Register Will the Web crash? Continued from Page 1 Despite the initial regis tion hassle, both Ebaib | Pearson noted that they li many of the portal’s fea Those features include onl account payment, studen mail, and the ability to bro courses by subject and ti According to web coordinator Dean Wai CCC has two develo in charge of all the syst on campus. He and fell coordinator Shawn Sw rarely leave their desks ing the first week of ev registration period, to en the systems continue to In the past they work maintenance projects on a time, whenever indivi systems demanded care redesign. “We’re trying to tak different kind of appr this time around. Now we’ve got the portal, the n college site, and some o things like Moodle, we’re ing to take a more integra approach so that we’re just focusing on one syst said Walch. This continual mai nance of all systems at a may make a difference those attempting to regi next Tuesday. Walch welcomes fee from students on their ex ence with myClackamas. “We do take it very ously. It ’s here for the stu and we want to make it’s usable for the stud We’ve done a lot tea so we’re hopefully ex ing things to go smo for this upcoming enroll period,” Walch said. If students do enco difficulties registering onl the student help desk 1 be reached at 503-594-3] Students may also ob password resets, “Tips] Tricks” and FAQ’s at the 1 desk’s website, access! from the college’s main" page via the staff dirccto C The Underworld By Jaime Dunkle Illustration by Tyler ■ i hit r- Staff- The Clackamas Print Co-Editors in Chief: Ad Manager: Kayla Calloway Erik Andersen James Duncan News Editor: Jaime Dunkle Associate News Editor: 19600 Molalla Ave. Oregon City, OR 97045 503-594-6266 Brian Baldwin Sports Editor: Robert Morrison Arts & Culture Editor: Joshua Baird x Staff Writers/ Photographers: Production Assistants: Ben Carlson, Max Dorsey, Conni Gaunt, Mandie Gavitt, Copy Editor: George Craig, Pamela Hollis, John Simmons Co-Desisn/Web Editors: Harley Jackson, Tyler Kern, Sarah Mitts, Christina Pearl, John Shufelt John Petty, Kyle Smith, David Corey Romick Photo Editor: Spears, Nathan Sturgess, Kath MichaelNBonn erine Suydam Katie Aamatti, Ashley De- Hut-McCollum, Neil Lun din, Dakota Miller, Jesse Pierce, Ryan Rau, Tom Redick, Kelly Van Hook Journalism Adviser: iWllt Goals: The Clackamas Pro aims to report the new in an honest, unbiasej professional manna Content published in Thi Print is not screen® ol subject to censorship® Melissa Jones E-mail comments! to chiefed(i/ clackanias.edu!
