A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely Summary
A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely Summary
Robin Wilson in his article, ”A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely” says that the media is blowing the student debt crisis way out of proportion. The problem is that some students are financially illiterate and don’t know how much debt they are in. Most people are paying off their student loans without any trouble.
Wilson states that student loan debt has been increasing, and there are some people who are coming out of college with high amounts to repay. These people are struggling to make their payments and it makes a good, attention-getting story for the media to report. But he also says some of the confusion about this issue is that measurements of debt combine undergraduate, graduate, and professional school debt. Undergraduates are actually coming out of college with an average of $20,000 in debt.
Some points that Wilson makes include the fact that some people defer payment which racks up interest costs. They aren’t aware of how much debt they are in because they are financially illiterate. Some people are uneducated about the value of the education they are getting and how valuable their chosen occupation is. There’s no specific person to advise students about borrowing for their education. And sometimes it’s an emotional decision rather than a financial one. One person wondered whether people should be allowed to borrow so much money.
Wilson notes that Robert Sevier, of Iowa, doesn’t feel too bad for these people who can’t repay their loans. Overspending on school is like overspending on anything else. Mr. Wilson gives several examples of people who borrowed reasonable amounts of money for good reasons, benefited from their education and are repaying their loans. They are careful about money but they don’t have to go without too many things in order to be able to pay back the loans and they are in better positions for having gotten their education.
From the evidence that Wilson provides, it does seem to me that the student debt crisis is not as big a deal as people are making it out to be. I think there is value in borrowing to go to college in some circumstances for some people, but they need to be aware of the costs and benefits of doing so. It may make more sense to borrow money if you’re only at college to learn a trade, like in Liz Addison’s article,“Two Years Are Better Than Four”.
Works Cited
Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Robin Wilson. ""A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely"" They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. 256-272. Print.
Robin Wilson in his article, ”A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely” says that the media is blowing the student debt crisis way out of proportion. The problem is that some students are financially illiterate and don’t know how much debt they are in. Most people are paying off their student loans without any trouble.
Wilson states that student loan debt has been increasing, and there are some people who are coming out of college with high amounts to repay. These people are struggling to make their payments and it makes a good, attention-getting story for the media to report. But he also says some of the confusion about this issue is that measurements of debt combine undergraduate, graduate, and professional school debt. Undergraduates are actually coming out of college with an average of $20,000 in debt.
Some points that Wilson makes include the fact that some people defer payment which racks up interest costs. They aren’t aware of how much debt they are in because they are financially illiterate. Some people are uneducated about the value of the education they are getting and how valuable their chosen occupation is. There’s no specific person to advise students about borrowing for their education. And sometimes it’s an emotional decision rather than a financial one. One person wondered whether people should be allowed to borrow so much money.
Wilson notes that Robert Sevier, of Iowa, doesn’t feel too bad for these people who can’t repay their loans. Overspending on school is like overspending on anything else. Mr. Wilson gives several examples of people who borrowed reasonable amounts of money for good reasons, benefited from their education and are repaying their loans. They are careful about money but they don’t have to go without too many things in order to be able to pay back the loans and they are in better positions for having gotten their education.
From the evidence that Wilson provides, it does seem to me that the student debt crisis is not as big a deal as people are making it out to be. I think there is value in borrowing to go to college in some circumstances for some people, but they need to be aware of the costs and benefits of doing so. It may make more sense to borrow money if you’re only at college to learn a trade, like in Liz Addison’s article,“Two Years Are Better Than Four”.
Works Cited
Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Robin Wilson. ""A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely"" They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. 256-272. Print.
This is my best summary because I have a good overall synopsis. I was able to take the information given and reduce it to the main points. I didn't add my own opinions in the body of the article, just restated what the author had written. I included a Works Cited section to refer to the original article. I added my own conclusion, giving my opinion about what the author had said and relating it to a previous article we had studied.