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Opinion Trillion-Dollar Debt: The High Cost of Higher Education W hether beginning a career or seeking to keep one going, the competi- tive edge in today’s job market usually goes to those with college degrees. In our recovering econo- my with fewer jobs available than there are people who need them, there is strong motivation to earn degrees. But higher education also costs money – more than many household finances can afford. As a result, many Americans are counting on the potential benefits of higher incomes derived from strong academic credentials against the cost of going in to debt to fund that degree. The New York Federal Reserve determined that 37 million Ameri- cans now owe more in student debt than is owed on either car loans ($730 billion) or credit cards ($693 billion) nationwide. Further, according to Rohit Chopra, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s student loan ombudsman, outstanding student loan debt hit the trillion dollar mark several months ago. In just NNPA C OLUMNIST Charlene Crowell one year, 2011, federal student loan volume totaled $117 billion. In a recent blog, Chopra said, “If current trends continue, there will be consequences not just for young people, but for all of us. Too much debt means too much risk for a generation of young peo- ple, many of whom are struggling in today’s economy.” Chopra is right. How America Pays for College, a research report from Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest financial services company specializing in education found that parents’ income(s) and sav- ings are being stretched as well. For the average American, 70 per- cent of college funding comes from three sources: grants and scholarships (33 percent); parent incomes and savings (30 percent); and parent borrowing (7 percent). Students invest in their own futures by a combination of bor- rowing in their own names (15 percent) and working/saving (11 percent). The Sallie Mae report also found that the recent increase in grant usage occurred among middle and high-income families. Low- income families — with the least financial resources – actually paid more of their incomes and savings for college. Among Black fami- lies, 51 percent borrow for college costs and 35 percent of Black stu- dents take out loans in their own ing a college is the financial aid package offered. The value of a financial aid package, according to the Sallie Mae report, was the determining factor for 57 percent of Black students. Additionally, 52 percent of black students live at home while studying to contain costs. Overall, students who graduate leave campuses with a degree in one hand and a stack of student debt in the other. The average amount of debt new undergradu- The average debt new students amass is $25,000. But more than a quarter of black students borrowed $30,500 names to attend four-year institu- tions, both public and private. Instead of comparing curriculum choices or graduation rates to guide a choice of college, today the weightiest influence in select- ates amass is $25,000. But for black students receiving a bache- lor’s degree from 2007-2008, 27 percent borrowed $30,500 or more. The highest student loan debt was most common among families with incomes between $30,000 and $59,999. As young graduates enter the workplace, student debt burdens will likely defer their ability to purchase a home, the traditional gateway to building personal wealth. For their parents, the addi- tional debt of borrowing for their children will probably defer retire- ment and/or alter their standard of living. These devastating financial effects have attracted the attention of some Capitol Hill lawmakers as well. According to U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke of Michigan, “Graduates are finding that their degrees, like homes at the height of the real estate bubble, were vastly mis- priced assets that are now hard to finance. We must set these stu- dents free.” If you or someone you know is experiencing problems with stu- dent loan debts, register that concern with CFPB: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/. The Trayvon Martin Killing: ‘Walking While Black’ E very parent raising Black sons knows the dilemma: deciding how soon to have the talk. Choosing the words to explain to your beautiful child that there are some people who will never like or trust him just because of who he is—including some who should be there to protect him, but will instead have the power to hurt him. Training him how to walk, what to say, and how to act so he won’t seem like a threat. Teaching him that the bur- den of deflating stereotypes and reassuring other people’s igno- rance will always fall on him, and while that isn’t fair, in some cases it may be the only way to keep him safe and alive. But sometimes it isn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to protect Trayvon Martin. Seventeen-year-old C HILD W ATCH Marian Wright Edelman Now there is widespread outrage over the senseless killing of a young Black man who was doing nothing wrong and the fact that the man who killed him has not been arrested. People are trying to make sense of the series of gun laws that allowed George Zimmerman to act as he did—starting with the Florida laws that allowed someone like Zimmerman, who had previ- People are trying to make sense of the series of gun laws that allowed George Zimmerman to act as he did Trayvon’s English teacher said he was “an A and B student who majored in cheerfulness.” Trayvon loved building models and taking things apart, his favorite subject was math, and he dreamed of becoming a pilot and an engineer. Instead, he was gunned down by a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain vigilante who pro- filed him, followed him, and shot him in the chest. His killer, George Zimmerman, saw the teenager on the street and called the police to report he looked “like he’s up to no good.” At the time Trayvon was walking home from the near- by 7-11 carrying a bottle of Arizona iced tea and a bag of Skit- tles for his younger stepbrother, leaving many people to guess that the main thing he was doing that made him look “no good” was wearing a hooded sweatshirt in the rain and walking while Black. George Zimmerman’s decisions made that suspicious enough to be a death sentence. ously been charged for resisting arrest with violence and battery on a police officer, to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon in the first place. Many more ques- tions are being raised about Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which also has been described as the “shoot first, ask questions later” law, and gives the benefit of the doubt to Zimmer- man and others claiming “self-defense” by allowing people who say they are in imminent danger to defend themselves. Some states limit this defense to people’s own homes, but others, like Florida, allow it anywhere. As Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, says, this law “has turned common law—and com- mon sense—on its head by enabling vigilantes to provoke conflicts, resolve them with dead- ly force, and avoid ever having to set foot in a courtroom.” The fear in Trayvon’s death is that this is exactly what has happened so far: that the story told by witnesses, phone records, and Zimmerman’s violent past and earlier complaints during his neighborhood patrols shows an overzealous armed aggressor who followed Trayvon even after police told him to stop, chased Trayvon down when the frightened boy tried to walk away from the stranger following him, and then shot the unarmed, 100- pounds-lighter teenager while neighbors said they heard a child crying for help. The prospect now that Zimmerman might never set foot in a courtroom for the shoot- ing has caused widespread frustration and fury. Just as sadly, Trayvon’s death was not unique. In 2008 and 2009, 2,582 Black children and teens were killed by gunfire. Black chil- dren and teens were only 15 percent of the child population, but 45 percent of the 5,740 child and teen gun deaths in those two years. Black males 15 to 19 years- old were eight times as likely as White males to be gun homicide victims. The outcry over Trayvon’s death is absolutely right and just. We need the same sense of outrage over every one of these child deaths. Above all, we need a nation where these senseless deaths no longer happen. But we won’t get it until we have com- mon-sense gun laws that protect children instead of guns and don’t allow people like George Zimmer- man to take the law into their own hands. We won’t get it until we have a culture that sees every child as a child of God and sacred, instead of seeing some as expend- able statistics, and others as threats and “no good” because of the color of their skin or because they chose to walk home wearing a hood in the rain. And we won’t get it until enough of us—parents and grandparents—stand up and tell our political leaders that the National Rifle Association should not be in charge of our neighbor- hoods, streets, gun laws, and values. In Trayvon’s case, his father Tracy speaks for what his family needs: “The family is call- ing for justice. We don’t want our son’s death to be in vain.” I hope that enough voices will ensure that it is not. Marian Wright Edelman is the President of the Children’s Defense Fund Week on the Web UPDATED: Trayvon Martin Stories, Video and Comment from The Skan- ner and Other News Sources US News For The Skanner News on your smart phone go to www. theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. Mom of Cele- brated Jefferson High School Teen Publishes Book on His Fight Against Leukemia Book Reviews Breastfeeding: A Well- ness Issue for African American Families NW News Fire, Motorcycles, Acrobats, Dance: Wow Entertainment www. The Skanner.com has a photo archive, automatic updates for weather and sports, the latest news from Portland and beyond ... it’s your go-to place for news you won’t see in mainstream publications. It’s your community. It’s The Skanner online March 28, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 5
