'Vagina Monologues' to stay off campus

Closer LookPAGE 10The Marquete TribuneTHURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010UP TO 30 DAYS31-60 DAYS61-90 DAYSOVER 90 DAYSMINIMUM PAYMENTTOTAL DUE $35,756,471.00Marquette vs. top competitors*It’s possible for students to survive thedetriments of debt — but at what cost?than their parents make in a yearalso stops many low-incomestudents from enrolling in college.University of Wisconsin-Madison· Total cost of attendance = $18,155· Average debt of graduates = $21,12351percent ofstudents graduatewith debtMarquette University· Total cost ofattendance = $37,748· Average debt of graduates =$30,563percentstudents graduatewith debt63percent ofLoyola University Chicago· Total cost ofattendance = $40,798· Average debt of graduates= $32,13458percent ofstudents graduatewith debtUniversity of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign52 with debt*All figures are from 2007-’08, the most recent dataavailable. Total cost is for on-campus students. Publicinstitutions’ costs are only for in-state residents.Sources: The Institute for College Access & Success, College InSightBy Kaellen Hesselkaellen.hessel@marquette.edu· Total cost of attendance = $23,150· Average debt of graduates = $17,930Dozens of all-nighters. Hundredsof tests. Thousands ofpages written. Days gone bywithout showering becausethere just isn’t time. More sleepdeprivation-related illnessesthan have been diagnosed.Finally — thankfully — it allcomes to an end.After years of strenuous learning,nothing can put adamper on graduation.That is, exceptdebt.Megan Kenny,a fifth-year seniorin the Col-percent ofstudents graduateSaint Louis University· Total cost of attendance = $44,286· Average debt of graduates = $29,29867percentwith debtofstudents graduatelege of Nursing,will graduatethis May with$86,000 inloans. That’smore than threetimes the medianamount of debt of aMarquette graduate in2009. Half of these loansare private loans, which haveoften have lower interest ratesand fees than federal or stateloans.Each year when Kenny tookout a small loan, she said itdidn’t look that bad. But nowthe total number is staring backat her.Kenny can’t help but wonderif there’s something she couldhave done to borrow less.But she did all she could.Kenny worked during summersand had campus jobs. Forthree-and-a-half years, she evenhad her room and board paid bythe Office of Residence Life byworking as a resident assistantand facility manager.Sound familiar?The graduatingclass of2010 will havepaid $105,644in tuition andfees overfour years atMarquette. Ifgraduates borrowedfederalloans, they’llhave a six tonine month graceperiod beforethey must beginrepayment. If they’veborrowed private loans,they may have to start payingthem back immediately.As soon as graduates havetheir diplomas in hand, they enterthe real world — in the red.Student loans: Not such‘charitable gifts’The median debt of 2009Marquette graduates was$25,635, said Susan Teerink,director of the Office of StudentFinancial Aid. The average debtwas $31,469.In 2008, 63 percent of graduatesleft Marquette with debt,according to the Project on StudentDebt, an initiative by theInstitute for College Access &Success.The source of this debt is studentloans.“Loans are not reallygenerosity or philanthropy.”For the 2009-’10 schoolyear, the totalamountborrowed byM a r q u e t t estudents was$35,756,471,according to the Office of InstitutionalResearch and Assessment.This marks a 51 percentincrease from 2003-’04 adjustingfor inflation.Approximately 90 percentof undergraduates currentlyreceive financial aid, whichincludes loans, grants, scholarshipsand work study.Although loans appear inmost financial aid packages,they shouldn’t be “confused asa charitable gesture,” said MarkKantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com, Web sitesthat guide students through thefinancial aid process and helpthem find scholarships.Loans have to be repaid andare profitable for lenders — includingthe government — becauseof the interest rates thatare charged on loans, he said.“Loans are not really generosityor philanthropy,” Kantrowitzsaid. “It’s a way of paying thebills over time.”Loans offer a source of cashflow because few people can affordto write a check right awayfor the cost of their total education,he said.But debt doesn’t just affect individualstudents.It limits graduates’ career options,deters them from going tograduate school and getting inmore debt, and delays the purchaseof their first homes, aswell as other major purchases,said Edie Irons, communicationsdirector for the Institutefor College Access and Success,which works to make higher educationaffordable and possiblefor students.“We need more college graduates,not less, in order to staycompetitive (as a nation),” Ironssaid.Kantrowitz added that theneed to borrow more moneyMA R K KA N T R O W I T ZFinAid.org and FastWeb.com PublisherThe dangers of defaultingDefaulting occurs when studentsare unable to make a paymenton their student loans asscheduled in a legal contractwhen they took out the loan.Student loans do not disappeareven if a student declares bankruptcy.If a student defaults ona federal loan, the governmentwill be paid back, Kantrowitzsaid.The government can sue students,garnish their wages up to15 percent of their take-homepay, deduct up to 25 percent ofthe monthlyloan paymentfor collectioncharges, preventgraduatesfrom renewingtheir professionallicenses,collect their social security benefitsand take the full amountfrom any state and federal incometax refunds, he said.Although private lenders donot have as much power to reclaimtheir borrowings, they areable to garnish wages — notlimited to 15 percent — witha court order, as well as leavenasty phone messages, he said.“It can be devastating to havepeople be unable to pay off theirloans and end up ruining theircredit,” Kantrowitz said.Poor credit ratings make itdifficult to get other loans andloans with low interest rates.They can also prevent the purchaseof a car or a home.Most students who default ontheir loans do so within the firstfive years, Kantrowitz said.Defaulting primarily occurswhen students are unable to findjobs after graduation, if theyhave high interest rates on theirloans, or if they don’t graduateat all. Students are three timesmore likely to default if theydon’t receive a diploma, Kantrowitzsaid.Of the 45 percent of 2009Marquette graduates that completedthe Graduating SeniorsSurvey late last April, only 26percent had been offered a fulltimejob.Despite this number, Marquettestill has a low defaultrate.While the fiscal year 2007national cohort default rate was6.7 percent, Marquette’s ratewas 1.1 percent.Kantrowitz said it’s typicalfor four-year, nonprofit universitiesto have such low ratesbecause their students tend tobe wealthier, and thus are lesslikely to default.Teerink said this low rate is atestament to Marquette students’