By Nicole Eatz
Staff Writer
This year students are struggling with the high costs of college. In my opinion, the bad economy should not affect students. No one should be penalized for not having enough money. That is why we have financial aid. Many students have to stay on campus instead of experiencing the off campus atmosphere. Most students would like to get off campus for at least a year but with the expenses of college it’s becoming near impossible. Students now need to be working multiple jobs and be a full time student. Their money is spent on necessities only, never on what they really want but on what they can’t do without.
Private loans might have been hit the hardest with the falling of the economy. Students are going to have a tough time getting private loads. According to the FinAid.org thirty six lenders stopped writing private college loans. The ones still giving out loans are being very selective. You must have a clean credit history or a good cosigner. I agree that they should give loans to clean credit holders or someone with a good cosigner. It is not their fault they were hit hard and everyone should work together to make these loans work. I don’t believe they should be taken away but worked out so everyone is happy and students are still able to afford college and have a college life.
A problem that was occurring in Pennsylvania for this fall semester was the state was not sure if they were able to pay out need-based grants for students to attend Pennsylvania colleges and universities. Some colleges decided to front the grant money for the students but only for the first semester. A big crisis occurred when Governor Rendell put a hold on $386 million in grants for 172,000 students across the commonwealth. The money was part of the 12.9 billion in spending money that Gov. Rendell has held up because the state has not approved a budget yet. Now students are looking to the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency also known as PHEAA for help. The amount of students expected to receive grants is up eleven percent from the recipients in 2008-09. Colleges and universities were having a difficult time trying to figure out how students could start classes when their PHEAA funding from the state was being held up. Now it is up to the budget that is passed to see if these students will get the money they need to continue out their education.
I think it is sad that money is something that we need to stress over while in school. Loans are meant to be stressful once we graduate and have to pay them off. The bad economy is affecting everyone but from researching and talking to other students, it seems students are struggling a lot to pay for school because loans are being cut down or are on hold. The universities and colleges are doing all they can to help their students out. They wanted to make sure students were able to start classes on time and not be penalized for their loans not coming through. This is a very hard and stressful time for everyone. Like I said I don’t think students should be affected by this bad economy. I believe the government should find a way to get all loans that are needed to students because ones again we are the future.