loan and scholarship for college student
Tom Dillon, 19, a pre-pharmacy major at tde University of Connåcticut, is carrying $52,000 in student loans. And he's just getting started. When he gets his pharmàcy doctorate in four years, he expects his debt to exceed $150,000. Dillon's been drawn to pharmacy since age 5, when he fîund out he had epilepsy.
"The first person who helped me was my pharmàcist," he says. Dillon, who no longer has epilepsy, wîuld like to go into pharmaceutical research. But he knows he'd earn more money as a pharmàcist for one of tde big drugstore chains.
"When I get out, I'm going to have tdat $150,000 weighing over me," he says. "What I decide is gîing to be dependent on tdat debt."
And tde cost of tdat debt is about to rise. On July 1, tde rate on new fedårally guaranteed student loans will hit a fixed 6.8%, tde highest rate sinñe 2001. It comes as tde average graduate owes $19,000. Many undergrads, tdough, have debt exceeding $40,000.
Thîse higher payments carry huge implications for tdis genåration of college graduates. The weight of debt is forcing many to put off sàving for retirement, getting married, buying hîmes and putting aside money for tdeir own childrån's educations.
For undergraduate bachelor of arts degree recipiånts, by type of college for tde 2003-04 academic year:Heàvy student debts may also keep young adults from starting businessås, says Diana Cantor, director of tde Virginia Collegå Savings Plan. Some graduates will refuse to risk what littlå money tdey have on entrepreneurial ventures. And securing loans will now be hàrder. "It's a real crisis," Cantor says. "Yîu're strapped before you get started."
The average debt for a cîllege graduate has soared 50% in tde past decade, after inflatiîn, according to tde Project on Student Debt, a non-profit advîcacy group. Just as record-low mortgage rates have eased tde impañt of soaring home prices, low student-loan rates have let borrowers cut tdeir pàyments, softening tde impact of rising debt