Greetings,
I just signed the following petition addressed to: Bank of America, Citi Bank, Sallie Mae.
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Imagine this- A 23 year old woman sits in her bedroom in her parent’s house. She went to college just like everyone always told her to, got her degree and hoped to find a job soon. Now she just sits waiting, waiting, waiting. While she doesn’t move on, what does keep growing is her student loan debt –thanks to the high interest rate. With no way out of it, all that she’s left to wonder is whether going to college was the right choice.
Although it would be nice for all colleges and universities to lower their tuition prices or at least make it so that each student only pays what they can reasonably afford, that’s a pipe dream ( at least for now). What can be done is eliminating the interest rate of student loans. Right now, the average college grad leaves with 27,000 dollars in debt, while the seemingly cost effective Stafford loan is at 3.4%. This can amount to such a huge amount of money over the years, especially for someone who couldn’t afford college in the first place. Even though it might seem like a lot, banks can afford it. Sallie Mae earned 82 million dollars from federally guaranteed student loans just in the first quarter of 2012 alone! Money from struggling students and graduates and their families! Bank of America earned 653 million dollars in the first quarter of 2012. Compared to the average college graduate its not like their executives are taking much of a pay hit either. In 2011, Citgroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit’s 2011 salary was 14.86 million dollars. Obviously these are corporations that can afford to trim off student loan interest rates. Even so there are still some positives for banks in this too. There are so many people that default on student loans every year, and the higher the interest rate the harder the loan gets to pay. By having all student loans with no interest rate, that might lead to more people keeping current with their loan payments which is better for the banks and everyone involved.
I will admit that I am only a junior in high school, but this issue is one that comes to my mind every time I think of college and what my parents and I will have to deal with before and after I graduate. This issue might seem over my head because it is- it’s something that concerns not just me, but people across the country. A study shown in the New York Times showed that since 1985, college tuition costs have risen by 559 percent. This is an astronomically high increase, especially compare to the fact that the cost of just about everything else has only doubled. Especially since the economy has been down and people have been losing jobs, (as of April 2012 the unemployment rate was 8.1%)
parents can’t afford to pay what they used to. The cost of sending children off to college is making college become a less and less attainable dream. Paying a say 5% interest rate on top of an already high student loan is crippling to so millions of people. This piling of debt follows people around forever since student loan debt in the one debt is un cancelable. If we as American citizens stand together there is nothing we can’t do. We can make a change that will not only affect us but the youth of tomorrow. Please sign this petition to make all of the major lenders make student loans have 0% interest rate. It’s not right that people have to pay an arm and leg to get an education and have to pay interest on top of it. We deserve better.
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Imagine this- A 23 year old woman sits in her bedroom in her parent’s house. She went to college just like everyone always told her to, got her degree and hoped to find a job soon. Now she just sits waiting, waiting, waiting. While she doesn’t move on, what does keep growing is her student loan debt –thanks to the high interest rate. With no way out of it, all that she’s left to wonder is whether going to college was the right choice.
Although it would be nice for all colleges and universities to lower their tuition prices or at least make it so that each student only pays what they can reasonably afford, that’s a pipe dream ( at least for now). What can be done is eliminating the interest rate of student loans. Right now, the average college grad leaves with 27,000 dollars in debt, while the seemingly cost effective Stafford loan is at 3.4%. This can amount to such a huge amount of money over the years, especially for someone who couldn’t afford college in the first place. Even though it might seem like a lot, banks can afford it. Sallie Mae earned 82 million dollars from federally guaranteed student loans just in the first quarter of 2012 alone! Money from struggling students and graduates and their families! Bank of America earned 653 million dollars in the first quarter of 2012. Compared to the average college graduate its not like their executives are taking much of a pay hit either. In 2011, Citgroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit’s 2011 salary was 14.86 million dollars. Obviously these are corporations that can afford to trim off student loan interest rates. Even so there are still some positives for banks in this too. There are so many people that default on student loans every year, and the higher the interest rate the harder the loan gets to pay. By having all student loans with no interest rate, that might lead to more people keeping current with their loan payments which is better for the banks and everyone involved.
I will admit that I am only a junior in high school, but this issue is one that comes to my mind every time I think of college and what my parents and I will have to deal with before and after I graduate. This issue might seem over my head because it is- it’s something that concerns not just me, but people across the country. A study shown in the New York Times showed that since 1985, college tuition costs have risen by 559 percent. This is an astronomically high increase, especially compare to the fact that the cost of just about everything else has only doubled. Especially since the economy has been down and people have been losing jobs, (as of April 2012 the unemployment rate was 8.1%)
parents can’t afford to pay what they used to. The cost of sending children off to college is making college become a less and less attainable dream. Paying a say 5% interest rate on top of an already high student loan is crippling to so millions of people. This piling of debt follows people around forever since student loan debt in the one debt is un cancelable. If we as American citizens stand together there is nothing we can’t do. We can make a change that will not only affect us but the youth of tomorrow. Please sign this petition to make all of the major lenders make student loans have 0% interest rate. It’s not right that people have to pay an arm and leg to get an education and have to pay interest on top of it. We deserve better.
Sincerely,
Aaliyah Dillion
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http://www.change.org/petitions/bank-of-america-citi-bank-sallie-mae-make-the-interest-rate-on-student-loans-0
Please sign this petition on change.org at the above link!
Aaliyah Dillion
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http://www.change.org/petitions/bank-of-america-citi-bank-sallie-mae-make-the-interest-rate-on-student-loans-0
Please sign this petition on change.org at the above link!
