A Working Title
Higher Education: A Road to Success or a Debt Trap for Less Affluent Students?
Topic Description
There are numerous professions in which advanced study in graduate school is required: doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, public school teachers, etc. Along with being necessary for certain professions, graduate degrees are associated with higher pay and career stability. As Anya Kamenetz explains in Default: The Student Loan Documentary, "for the people who are just getting a bachelor's degree, the bonus or the payoff of that degree has not actually been growing" (3). According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rates and earning vary by an individual's educational attainment. For example, the unemployment rate for someone with a bachelor's degree is 2.2%, while for someone with a master's degree it is 1.7% and with a professional degree it is 1.2%. This demonstrates that the main benefits of graduate school include greater employment opportunities, professional growth, higher pay and greater career advancement. Although higher education provides better job opportunities and increases the likelihood of living a comfortable lifestyle, the cost of graduate school and the need to take out loans impacts the number of opportunities that are available.
Loans have become the major form of financial assistance for students across the United States. There are about 44 million Americans with student loan debt. In 2019, the country's student loan debt reached $1.5 trillion-40% being graduate school debt (Carter). The average undergraduate loan debt is $35,000 and the average for graduate school is $84,300 (this number being higher for law and medical school students). Student loan debt is a burden that this generation of students are experiencing, and that the generations to follow will most likely experience to a greater degree. Reflecting on the total amount of loans one must repay after their undergraduate education, along with how it might interfere with their ability to reach financial stability and important life milestones, is an image that might steer individuals away from attending graduate school.
In this research paper, I will explore how student loans may affect one's decision to enroll in graduate school. I will focus on explaining the reasons why individuals might be hesitant to apply and register to graduate school, and describing some of the difficulties they might experience due to their student loan debt.
Research Question
To what extent do student loans affect one's decision to enroll in graduate school? If one decides to attend graduate school, how does the total amount of student loan debt then affect their lives?
Theoretical Frame
The human capital theory can be used to explain the reason why individuals enroll in graduate school, regardless of the amount of debt they are, and will be in. Human capital can be defined as the knowledge, traits, habits and skills that are unique to an individual, but that influence society's productivity. Human capital is formed and improved through education; therefore, it is often viewed as an investment. Theodore Schultz, who was an American, academic economist, "first popularized the idea that spending on human services such as education should be considered an investment rather than an act of consumption (Cooper 219). He believed that education was a tool to help the entire society, not only the individuals with college degrees. An individual's human capital contributes to their nation's growth because they are able to share their abilities with others and take on important roles within their careers. One's decision to receive an undergraduate education, followed by graduate or professional school, even if their family does not have the funds, is their way of wanting more of themselves and increasing their human capital. By taking out loans to pay for one's education, one is supporting their human capital, which they are able to benefit from once they finish their schooling. In this case, the benefits of a college education and degree outweigh the effects of student loan debt because pursuing higher education can leads to higher earnings, better health, better job opportunities and a comfortable lifestyle.
Example
Default: The Student Loan Documentary shares the stories of several borrowers, who have found themselves drowning in debt. Throughout the documentary, each of the individuals describe the process of paying off their debt and the challenges they have experienced. Matt, one of the borrowers, begins his story stating, "it's a weird feeling. Because I wanted to go to school and I wanted to get my master's degree, the rest of my life is dramatically altered. Can I get married? Real, real questions. Can I honestly have children? Because of the loan. And I don't feel like I can do that" (1). Matt made the decision to attend graduate school because he wanted to obtain a master's degree, but little did he know that it would change various aspects of his life. In the documentary, he questions if he will ever be able to form a family and make large future payments, such as buy a house, because of the debt he is in. Matt's personal testimony clearly demonstrates how student loan debt can damage lives; however, if his story is viewed through the concept of human capital, his decision to get a master's degree was his way of boosting his human capital.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Elizabeth, and Laura Hamilton. Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality.
Harvard, UP, 2013.
Bakalian, Serge and Aurora Meneghello, directors. Default: The Student Loan Documentary.
YouTube, 16 Feb. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvQR93C6n2E.
Belasco, Andrew S., Michael J. Trivette, and Karen L. Webber. "Advanced degrees of debt:
Analyzing the patterns and determinants of graduate student borrowing." The Review of Higher
Education 37.4 (2014): 469-497.
Chakrabarti, Rajashri, et al. "Tuition, Debt, and Human Capital." FRB of New York Staff Report 912
(2020).
Cooper, Melinda. "In Loco Parentis: Human Capital, Student Debt, and the Logic of Family
Investment." Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism. Zone
Books, 2017. 215-257.
Draut, Tamara. Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30- Somethings Can't Get Ahead. Doubleday.
2006.
Malcom, Lindsey E., and Alicia C. Dowd. "The impact of undergraduate debt on the graduate school
enrollment of STEM baccalaureates." The Review of Higher Education 35.2 (2012): 265-305.
Millett, Catherine M. "How undergraduate loan debt affects application and enrollment in graduate or first professional school." The Journal of Higher Education 74.4 (2003): 386-427.
Pyne, Jaymes, and Eric Grodsky. "Inequality and opportunity in a perfect storm of graduate student
debt." Sociology of Education 93.1 (2020): 20-39.
Ryan, C. J. "Paying for Law School: Law Student Loan Indebtedness and Career Choices." Available
at SSRN 3527863 (2020).
This is good in many ways -- you just have to remember to include your Works Cited list! Otherwise, you have all of the parts (problem, frame, case, etc.)-- though your question could be more compelling. After all, at a time when professional and expert knowledge is required to enter some fields, and where our society so desperately needs people with advanced knowledge -- especially in medicine, due to COVID-19, but also in areas like film-making (in this era of "peak TV" for instance), why is it that we force anyone pursuing a graduate degree toward a professional program to take the enormous personal risk of taking on astronomical debt in order to finance their degrees? (so that even more affluent students can be at great risk of financial problems in the future, let alone the less affluent?) How does the high cost of entry effectively bar many less affluent students? How does the risk keep many talented people from entering professions that we as a society increasingly need?
ReplyDeleteOf course, questions along those lines then raise the bar on what you need to research -- including finding more detailed statistical information regarding who is getting into debt? Who is most at danger of default? Etc. What you have so far is good -- but deeper and more pressing questions will lead you to a more ambitious and meaningful paper.
Thank you for your feedback. I just added the works cited. I did not think that I had to add it because the next post is the bibliography. I will try to look into this a little deeper.
ReplyDeleteLooking good
ReplyDelete