2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session 2013 special election arts arts and culture author ballot measures basketball bomb books boy scouts budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal college courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration international internet kitzhaber law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana marriage media medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes technology television terrorism theater third parties transportation union university of oregon washington wildfire women

As a former administrator at a very prestigious Ivy League graduate program I oversaw admissions AND financial aid. A student loan debt of $100K+ was not uncommon, which given the degree programs --an MFA in Poetry for example--were quite clearly not going to provide a means to pay off the loan anytime soon, if at all. As tuition approached $30K a year I instituted a policy where students had to sign a "waiver". They had to sit in my office in front of me and calculate their monthly payments over 10 and 20 year periods. Once they filled out the dollar figure (in pen, but should have been in blood!!) I would let them proceed. This was out of my own concern but was absolutely not a real requirement.
For the most part this did not deter a single student--the average age 28--but I do hope that as they reflect back on their debt their ire is not directed entirely at me or my office. I never encouraged anyone to borrow more than basic tuition--and had a large work study budget to assist them in finding easy work within the department. Still I saw students funding vacations, nice apartments, etc. One woman in her late forties took out over $70K in debt to take care of her elderly mother. Her MFA was in creative writing. I pray she gets a book/film deal some day, but currently she's working for a nonprofit.

It was very depressing to oversee such folly and in the end it caused me to leave the school as tuition and fees neared $40K annually. For a medical degree maybe. An MFA? No way.

(And the irony .... while there I was taking courses for free to finish my degree because I didn't want to take out any student loans--it took 6 years but I did it, bought a house in the process, and now live entirely debt free).

posted 4 years, 8 months ago
view in context