Barbie Brannon knows exactly how easy it is to run up a big student loan tab. She also knows what a shock that can be.
“About two years ago I realized how much debt I was racking up,” said the East Tennessee State University senior, whose debt now stands at $20,000. “It was depressing, to say the least.”
It’s not hard to do when students accept all that’s offered to them in terms of financial aid.
“They offer you way more money than I would say you need to get by on,” Brannon said. “It’s a good thing that the money is available – but it makes it so easy to accept the debt.”
Too often students who agree to extra loans quickly become accustomed to having additional money at the beginning of each semester.
“I think it is easy to become dependent on the money,” Brannon said. “I did just start to expect the extra money. Sometimes I’d have it spent before I even got my check.”
Those who receive such checks, commonly referred to as “balance of aid,” often do so after borrowing through subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans and receiving scholarships and grants.
“I’ve taken out the maximum amount of loans the last few semesters so that I could pay up bills and concentrate on school,” Brannon said. “That is how I acquired so much debt.”
Sometimes students soon forget those dollars gets tacked on to their bottom line.
“It’s almost like, at the time, free money,” said recent graduate Gwen Girton. “Because we’re thinking that we’re going through college, which is going to pay off because you’re going to get the big job in the end. Surely you can pay it off.”
Early in their college careers, students aren’t always aware of how much debt they’re taking on, or how quickly it can grow.
“I never really thought, gosh, by the time I graduate I’m going to owe $15,000, or even $30,000,” Girton said. “I don’t know that I thought about it that far ahead. I just knew that I wanted to go to school.”
At 26, Girton has student loan debt that totals $28,000, which doesn’t include her credit card debt. By comparison, the average student debt of the graduating class of May 2007 was $16,143 according to the Financial Aid office.
Students owing significant debt often relied too heavily on loans.
“Many students aren’t working while in school, though, and feel that this is a good way to supplement their other resources to pay for living expenses,” said Financial Aid counselor Amy Collins.
“But our office always tries to advise students to only take out what they need to pay for tuition and fees, books and supplies or for room and board if applicable.”
“The problem comes in when students don’t distinguish between necessities and luxuries,” Collins said. “For instance, do students really need the most expensive cable offered? If they have a cell phone, do they need a land line? Is it really necessary to go out to a restaurant to eat every day? In other words, it is important that students budget their money wisely.”
But invariably, sometimes students wind up borrowing more than they intended.
“I am definitely not happy about the debt I have acquired over the years, but the money has helped me to live more comfortably,” said Brannon, a public relations major.
“I just hope that the degree I am paying so much for will afford me the salary to pay off the debt with ease.”
Meanwhile, Girton, who recently began repaying her debt at $200 a month, has few regrets.
“Of all the debt that I have accumulated, it’s the least that I’m actually worried about just because of the percentage rate being so low,” Girton said. “I mean, I definitely want to get rid of it, but I don’t think it’s weighing me down too much.
“I think it is part of our generation,” Girton said. “We’re just kind of used to convenience, where we’ve been given credit cards and things that are so easy. So I don’t think we’re much afraid of debt, even though we’re consumed in it, like this is the norm to be in debt.”
Nonetheless, some still are surprised when they discover how much they owe their lenders.
“After my first couple of years, my student debt went up to about $3,000 or so,” said exercise science major Sarah Manuel. “I didn’t think that was too bad. But one of my next semesters I took out the max of another $3,500 and that brought my total up to about $7,000.”
Manuel, a junior, now has a student loan debt of $10,000.
“When I found that out,” she said, “I was like – whoa – that came out of nowhere.

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