The College Debt as fear of most parents and students

The biggest worry of parents and their college-bound kids consists of a four-letter word: debt. Statistics show us that the parents are worried about the college costs, which are in some cases exceeding $50,000 or even more than $100,000.

For the last five years, the survey from Princeton Review described the debt as the biggest threat and fear for the most parents. The debt problem has recently changed another fear of some parents, which was mainly that their kids would not get into their first-choice college. Now, it is all about the financial problem and a solid opportunity to get debt.

It was also described the actual debt levels of undergraduate programs, where almost 73% of graduates finished their study with a debt. Among such colleges were Providence College, a private, Roman Catholic school in Providence, Rhode Island. In this case, Providence has shown the highest percentage of students with debt, including an amount of average debt – $36, 011. That data put Providence in the list among all ranked schools. Moreover, there are some colleges, which have higher debt level – $40,000 per student.

The biggest problem of choosing a future college for the children is strongly connected with their future career interests. As the survey shows, almost 42% of the respondents feel that the biggest issue is to make a right decision on where to go. For the last few decades, the undergraduate business program is the most popular among American students, and each year many applicants would like to choose this program.

The Future Undergraduate Program

The choice of future undergraduate program is always the most-burning question for parents and students. Many students have different aims in pursuing their future goals, and it is usual when those are not related to parents’ choice. According to the statistics, parents tend to choose the college that has more affordable price policy, so they would not face any financial problems in the next years. Children, on the other side, only focus on the reputation of the chosen college, being afraid of not getting into the one, as it may be not respectable for them to choose another college.

Almost 40% of the respondents said they would choose a college that would be the best choice among the list of famous ones. Only 10% of the students are ready to choose a college, which is the most affordable.

The survey of Princeton review also raised a question of school’s reputation in a specific major contributed to their kid’s decision to apply, and 98% said it would factor in “strongly” or “very much”.

In perceiving the benefits of a college degree, almost 41% said it was all about getting a potentially better job or higher income, 34% underlined the importance of exposing them to new ideas, and 25% thought the main benefit of any college degree is just the education.