Spring Break
Hopkins makes first attempt to track private student debt
Issue date: 11/15/07
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The senior class recently received a survey requesting that they answer questions about their student debt.
The survey was sent out to the entire senior class in regards to the educational debt they will have incurred by graduation. The survey seems to touch on every form of official debt a student could acquire during their undergraduate career, but most important is the amount of debt incurred from student loan corporations.
As tuition rates have soared, so too have the number of loans taken out in order to pay them. According to FinAid.org, the average debt load of students among private universities is roughly $28,000. This number, not surprisingly, is growing. Unfortunately, it also seems that interest rates on loans are also on the rise.
The tracking of graduates' debt has generally not been put into practice by national universities thus far.
According to Dean of Financial Aid William Conley, this study is not an official attempt by the University to track students' debt. Hopkins is participating in a broader study put together by "edventures," an educational based company, which is attempting to get a snap shot of students' debt after having attended upper tier universities.
Furthermore, Hopkins does not, at the moment, intend to administer the survey annually.
However, the results of this study will not go unnoticed by the administration. According to Conley, this will give Hopkins an opportunity to get a better idea of the debts acquired by students beyond official educational costs, particularly from credit cards.
With a better approximation of elective debts, as opposed to educational debts, Conley believes that the school could do more to educate students about financial responsibility, and ultimately about keeping control over personal finances and debts.
As far as using the results of the study to reconsider tuition costs and financial aid packages, Conley deems this unlikely.
"While we are always attentive to tuition increases, we are not in the business of reworking tuition costs to accommodate the market," Conley said.
As of now, there is no implied connection between this study and what will be done in the future to assess the costs of tuition and room and board.
For the University, the major point of this study is an indication of students' abilities to manage their personal finances.
Major changes to University policies, specifically in regard to financial packages and tuition costs, do not seem likely to result from this study.
The survey was sent out to the entire senior class in regards to the educational debt they will have incurred by graduation. The survey seems to touch on every form of official debt a student could acquire during their undergraduate career, but most important is the amount of debt incurred from student loan corporations.
As tuition rates have soared, so too have the number of loans taken out in order to pay them. According to FinAid.org, the average debt load of students among private universities is roughly $28,000. This number, not surprisingly, is growing. Unfortunately, it also seems that interest rates on loans are also on the rise.
The tracking of graduates' debt has generally not been put into practice by national universities thus far.
According to Dean of Financial Aid William Conley, this study is not an official attempt by the University to track students' debt. Hopkins is participating in a broader study put together by "edventures," an educational based company, which is attempting to get a snap shot of students' debt after having attended upper tier universities.
Furthermore, Hopkins does not, at the moment, intend to administer the survey annually.
However, the results of this study will not go unnoticed by the administration. According to Conley, this will give Hopkins an opportunity to get a better idea of the debts acquired by students beyond official educational costs, particularly from credit cards.
With a better approximation of elective debts, as opposed to educational debts, Conley believes that the school could do more to educate students about financial responsibility, and ultimately about keeping control over personal finances and debts.
As far as using the results of the study to reconsider tuition costs and financial aid packages, Conley deems this unlikely.
"While we are always attentive to tuition increases, we are not in the business of reworking tuition costs to accommodate the market," Conley said.
As of now, there is no implied connection between this study and what will be done in the future to assess the costs of tuition and room and board.
For the University, the major point of this study is an indication of students' abilities to manage their personal finances.
Major changes to University policies, specifically in regard to financial packages and tuition costs, do not seem likely to result from this study.
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