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High School Counselors Say Debt Worries Affect College Choices; Survey: Student Loans Support Access but Present Challenges to Families |
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From Ascribe Newsfeed: According to our nation's high school counselors, worries about the risks of student loans influence families' decisions about whether children go to college as well as which college they should attend. - Most counselors believe student loans are a good investment for a typical student at their school: 83 percent believe loans are at least a somewhat good investment, while 37 percent believe they are a very good investment. - Most counselors (89 percent) agree with a general statement that student loans help low-income students attend college. However, more than one-third (37 percent) believe that low-income students should avoid student loans because of the risks of default. - Easier questions: More than half of counselors find it at least "somewhat easy" to answer questions about whether to borrow to pay for college (62 percent) and what happens if the student does not graduate from college (53 percent). "Students and families rely on high school counselors' guidance in the complicated and high-stakes world of student loans, and counselors certainly deserve better information and support," said Robert Shireman, executive director of the Project on Student Debt. "But what we really need is a student loan system that isn't so risky or hard to explain in the first place, so that counselors can focus their limited resources on preparing students to get into and succeed in college."
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