The Reality of Taking Student Loans: Meet JC and Sarah

Over the past 2 weeks, we had a series of interviews with two students, JC and Sarah.  Both going to college. Even though they both go to different schools for different majors, both experience many of the same hardships.  Below are a few excerpts from an interview in which we focused on their experiences making the choice for college, dealing with financial strains, and dealing with the financial aid administration system.

1) This first clip discusses the realities of students loans.  Does the promise of an education always outweigh the burden of student loans? We ask JC and Sarah to discuss this conundrum in the context of their own experience.

2) In this clip JC questions the financial aid system, and why banks have until recently been willing to loan so much money to a body of people who might not have the means to pay it back. JC’s experience has led him to consider that students are not given enough information on effective budget strategies when taking out living expense loans while they are going to school.

3) In this clip, Sarah and JC talk about finance-conscious ways to get a college education, such as starting at a community college or going into an international baccalaureate program. They feel that going into an institution and starting your core classes such as English and Science, and then experimenting with a variety of degree track programs is a smart way to go. By being able to test and see what you might like or dislike, you save money instead of diving into a degree program which might not be the right fit. This is a good view in the “do it yourself” mentality that many young students bring to the table when trying to solve the hard problems of financing your college education.