College is the plan after high school for many Americans as it is an investment in their future, but when this investment cripples them for the decades to come is it worth it? In the United States, there are 45 million borrowers of student loans who owe collectively 1.6 trillion in student debt. This puts student loan debt second in the category of consumer debt with mortgages coming in at first. This is becoming a problem in the United States as millions of students are taking on the next steps towards college millennials and Gen Z generation making up a huge portion of those who do take those next steps, but also taking the challenges that come with it like student loans. Taking a closer examination at the student loan crisis one must put in question what the problems could be causing this could it be the millennials fault, government, or is this just a process millions of Americans must go through to get ahead in life? 

Student loans are types of loans that students take out to help pay for post-secondary education including tuition, fees, textbooks, or anything else that a student may need help paying for while in college. Many of these loans come with an interest rate depending on the type of loan that one decides to take out and don’t have to be repaid till after graduation. Currently, there are 45 million borrowers of student loans who owe collectively a total of 1.6 Trillion in student debt. The average student will come out of college with about 33,000 in student loans and while many argue that this is an investment student must take to get a future education other Americans like Nick believe millennials are to blame for such an outstanding student loan debt. 

“It is getting harder and harder to feel sympathy for kids born between 1981 and 2012.” Millennials have been the scapegoats of many things wrong within America as they are often labeled as lazy. The article “Are millennials to blame for their own student debt” Nick Gillespie attempts to blame on students for ringing up such an enormous debt when graduating. He makes some valid points like its students’ responsibility to know how much money they are going to borrow, how much should be repaid, and how long these payments will continue after graduation. This is a valid point as student loans are investments that stick with you through all of college and for many Americans stick with them for years after college. Although this is a valid point other people like Nick Ducoff argue that the lack of knowledge of student debt is the government’s own fault.  

In an article written in CNBC, Nick Ducoff writes “government spends a great deal of money to prevent teen drinking, but we are still enablers of student loan use” while Gillespie argues that the blame is all on millennials Ducoff pushed back on this idea as he believes that there is not enough information being put out in the media, schools, states to show how exactly student loans work. He furthers his point stating that there is not an adequate education, information, and system to help students and families make smarter choices when it comes to these loans. While both articles have valid and strong points some flaws that come with each as Wisley Whistle states in an article “Millennials and student debt.” She strengthens Gillespie’s argument about millennials being at fault as she argues the poor performance students have in college. “Institutions are plagued with dismissals, thus creating low job placement” here we see the common theme of the label that gets put on millennials in this case she hints at the idea that the reason these student loans are not getting paid is that these students don’t work hard enough. She strikes two more valid points as to why the blame of student loans is all on millennials stating, “when millennials with no college degree, lost their job some decided to pursue a graduate degree, often with loans.” This point strengthens both Gillespie and Whistle’s argument as this shows millennials adding more loans to the loans they already had.  

While both arguments do indeed have valid standing Anie Doris from “ChicagoBoothReview” takes the pressure off the millennials and instead puts that pressure on the government just like Nick Ducoff. Dorris takes a close examination of government policy. “1980s and 2000s education policy increased eligibility for loan programs, raised borrowing limits, which drove a surge in new institutions especially for-profit ones.” The close examination looks at what happened when a change in policy altered the way student loans worked and in this case, a change in the policy skyrocketed the students able to take out loans and increased the amount a student could take out. While this did create new intuitions it also created a problem within the student debt. “Peaks in student loan defaults are driven by federal policy” is the conclusion that Doris came to while looking at the past year’s loans chart. 

Ducoff furthers her argument by pointing out “90 percent of private loans have an adult co-signer” which means that not only did the number of loans taken out increase but so did the number of parents co-signing. The co-signing is a way to have a safety net for those establishments lending out loans for if the student cannot repay, the burden falls on the parents. This statistic shows that even before the loans have been taken out and the degree has been earned there is already some doubt that the student will be able to repay the loan. This pushes back on the idea that millennials are not working hard enough while in college as there is already a systematic problem before they even get into college. While these interesting points hint at the system being at fault Nick Gillespie shuts down these ideas by looking at where student loans go. “Student debt can be accumulated from all aspects” meaning that it’s not just tuition that students use loans for certain aspects of college like housing, food, transportation, and entertainment play a huge role in the accumulation of debt. He continues to point out that millennials should be responsible for knowing how much money they need. Continuing to say that millennials lack of budgeting is the problem with how much debt they accumulate, while this point valid Ducoff argues that budgeting gets thrown out the window as students need as much many as they can get in order to live a healthy college life. 

Ducoff continues to challenge Gillespie pointing out that budgeting a loan is not a simple thing every student can do as some students need to borrow more money than others. “Black millennials borrowed 17 percentage points higher than their white peers” this statistic shows another problem connected to the government which is the racial wealth gap. The more a student’s family is struggling the more loans that that student is going to take out and possibly get a job while in school. As stated earlier the dismal rate Whistle brought up can be challenged with a poorer student not being able to keep up while working during their college careers. 

Several points have been brought up while examining these articles from millennials creating problems in student debt to the government itself bringing the college debt crisis on itself. While these four articles create the debate of who is to blame both sides bring up rather simple solutions for what they believe is the problem. On the side of Gillespie and Whistle, they argue that responsibility needs to be taken when millennials take out these loans while holding them accountable. This side sees loans as an investment that will pay itself off in the future if done right. On the side of Ducoff and Doris, they argue that the government must change some policies while also raising the amount of information that is put out to the public on the topic of student loans. Funding for information on student loans just as much as the government funds for teen drinking awareness. While both arguments had some valid points it all comes down to the students who are wanting to further their education who must make these tough decisions regarding student loans. 

Works Cited

Doris, Aine. “Government Policy Has Created a $1.5 Trillion Student-Loan Crisis.” Chicago Booth Review, review.chicagobooth.edu/finance/2020/article/government-policy-has-created-15-trillion-student-loan-crisis. 

Nick Ducoff, CEO and founder of Edmit. “Students and Their Families Need Support Systems before They’re Saddled with College Debt.” CNBC, CNBC, 17 May 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/05/16/students-families-need-support-systems-to-handle-college-debt-crisis.html. 

Gillespie, Nick. “Are Millennials Responsible for Their Own Student Debt?” Reason.com, Reason, 21 May 2019, reason.com/2019/05/21/are-millennials-responsible-for-their-own-student-debt/. 

Whistle, Wesley. “The Emerging Millennial Wealth Gap.” New America, www.newamerica.org/millennials/reports/emerging-millennial-wealth-gap/.