As a 21-year-old first generation college student in Durham, I want us to do more to make the cost of college affordable for everyone across the state and the country. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been out trying to make sure young people are registered to vote on my campus, because I want our elected representatives to hear from us that crippling student debt when we graduate is compromising our futures. Many of us are struggling to even stay in school with the cost of attending college so high.
Since last December, North Carolina has offered the Next NC Scholarship, covering all tuition and fees for community college and some state university students, from families making under $80,000. Students attending a community college will get $3,000 and those attending a public university in North Carolina will get a minimum of $5,000. That’s a start. But it comes too late for students like me, and the income threshold is too low. Students whose two parents earn more than $40,000 a year can’t get financial aid at all. Many students in that position are telling me they’re less worried about paying off their student loans when they graduate, and more worried about staying in school each semester.
I know what it’s like to struggle to get through college. When I was an undergraduate student at North Carolina Central University, I waived the fee that would have given me on-campus physical and mental health care so that I could put the money towards bills. I moved out of college housing because I realized it was cheaper to live off campus than to pay $8,000 each semester to live in a dormitory with another $1,200 for a meal plan you probably won’t use. Then there’s insurance, which is about another $1,600. It all adds up. I opted out and worked the whole time through college to make sure I was as debt-free as possible.
Still, by the time I graduated I had $14,000 in student loans, and I was working three jobs. I needed to pay for rent, a car payment, my phone bill, and a $175 loan payment on top. I got an economic hardship deferment pause on the loan repayment, but felt like the debt was on my back. Now I’m in law school and looking at ten times that in total debt by the time I graduate. That’s a crippling burden and I don’t think it encourages people from a variety of backgrounds, especially people like me, to be optimistic and think positively about a law career. I stress out about the debt all the time. I also feel that I rushed my undergraduate college experience and graduated early because I didn’t want to get into more debt.
Right now, the number one issue for everyone I talk to about the upcoming election is the economy, and that extends to students, too. They’re struggling to get through each month. Students might see wealthy people writing big checks to their educational institutions and athletics programs, but they don’t ever see that money. The same people writing those checks are also making political contributions. That money doesn’t help pay for our books or resources on campus. As a peer to students who are struggling with the cost of college, I’ve noticed it makes a difference to them to hear from somebody that looks like them. They and I want more from their elected leaders when it comes to the cost of going to college, and the money we need to afford school.