Twitter Poll Results

Recently I put up a poll on twitter asking my friends, the majority of which are college students, to vote if they think they will have over or under $30,000 in student debt when they graduate college. Over a span of 24 hours I got 57 votes and the percentages came out to be 70% think that they will have over $30,000 in debt and 30% think that they will have less than $30,000. We used $30,000 as an average for the poll because that is the average debt of Lebanon Valley College students when they graduate. I think this says a lot about the state of college students around my age (19 years old) and what I and other students have to expect for when we graduate as well.

If you have any input or if you want to comment if you think you will have more or less than $30,000 in debt, comment below!

Interview with Lebanon Valley College Director of Institutional Research: Jessica Ickes

 As part of our research on student debt, we conducted an interview with Jessica Ickes, the Director of Institutional Research at Lebanon Valley College.  She provided insight on student debt at LVC and nationwide.

Q: What kind of student debt do students at LVC generally graduate with?

A:

•  83% of the last Graduating class borrowed at LVC
• $37,865 was the average debt

• 82% of the last Graduating class borrowed with Federal Loans
• $26,105 was the average debt

• 25% of the last Graduating class borrowed with Private Loans
• $39,216 was the average debt

Q: Would you consider the debt of college students nationwide to be high?

A:  The country was very very upset in recent years when student loan debt surpassed credit card debt in the country.  Credit card debt is terrible debt to have, but the average student loan debt is equivalent to the average mid sized car price.  So if you finance a car for 5 years, and you turn the car over in about 7 years compared to what you pay for an education which will span for the rest of your life.  But, I think in perspective to where we spend our money on in this country and how we pay for cars and other things…I guess it depends on what you value.

Q: Do you think there is a solution for college debt?

A: There are a lot of different potential solutions…which one will work I’m not sure.  Federal government has been talking about free community college.  What I worry about there is it creates a tiered educational system, so students who can’t pay would go to schools like a community college or state school.  Students who can afford to pay would go to more elite institutions.  And what does that do? I think we see in Europe, some of the educational systems that provide free college and give these benefits to their citizens; but, one of the trade offs is they test kids very early and sort of track them, and then by 7^th or 8^th grade you know what they are going to be.  The solution gets complicated, and we have to look at what our goals are.  Is it just to reduce debt? Is it to give students the ability to choose?

Give us your opinions on student debt. What is the solution?  How are you dealing with student debt?

Interview with Lebanon Valley College Director of Financial Aid: Kendra Feigert

As part of our research on student debt, we conducted an interview with Kendra Feigert, the Director of Financial Aid at Lebanon Valley College.  She provided insight into the new scholarship program that will affect the incoming students at LVC as well as her own opinions on student debt at the college and nationwide.

Average Student Debt at LVC for the Class of 2015: $37,865

Average Student Debt Nationwide for the Class of 2015: $35,051

Q: Can you explain the scholarship opportunities of students already enrolled V.S. incoming students next year?

A: The competition among students has become fierce. Before, our scholarship opportunities looked at class rank.  But, we realized a lot of schools are going away from class rank because it becomes less meaningful in small schools.  The new scholarship program was created to provide more input not only on class rank, but a heavy weight placed on GPA.  If SAT or ACT scores are submitted we use them, but we are test optional.  Since it [the scholarship] is based primarily on high school academics we are starting with the incoming class of 2016. One of the differences is that scholarship amount is flat.  With current students the scholarships increase with tuition.

Old Scholarship Awards:

Based on Class Rank, Standardized Test Scores (optional), Rigor of Class Work:

Vickroy Scholarship: One-half off tuition
Leadership Award: One-third off tuition
Achievement Award: One-quarter off tuition

New Scholarship Awards:

Based on GPA, Standardized Test Scores (optional), Class Rank (if applicable), Rigor of Class Work:

Board of Trustees Scholarship: $22,000 per year

Presidential Scholarship: $20,000 per year

Dean’s Scholarship: $18,000 per year

Alfred Tennyson Sumner Scholarship: $16,000 per year

Mary C. Weiss Scholarship: $14,000 per year 

Q: Would you say the majority of the students at LVC attend on a scholarship? If so how many students on average do you think pay the full $49,540?

A: I can probably count on one hand the students who pay full and it might even be less than one hand.  Overall, recipients who receive some kind of aid is 99%.  Eighty-one percent of students receive one of our three merit scholarships.

Q: Would you consider the debt of college students nationwide to be high?

A: Student loan debt really peaked in 2010, and so every year since, the amount students are borrowing across the nation (not just at LVC or private schools), has dropped.  I of course would like to see the borrowing at LVC be less.  And I think we are doing a better job of that.  We have really changed our aid strategy in the last three years, but it is going to be a couple of years until the catches up to our graduates.  So I’m hoping to see that number go down and continue even with the increases of tuition.

Q: How do you feel about students in other countries who go to college for free?  Do you feel like this should be offered in the US?

A: To be honest, I’m not sure I have thought about that or have an opinion one way or the other.  I would love to see greater aid coming from federal and state sources, absolutely.  The government has really not kept pace with providing aid at the same level institutions have.  So while our costs have gone up, our aid has also increased too.

Q: How does LVC’s scholarships and aid differ from other colleges in the area?

A: Well, it was very different until this new program that we just changed to.  So that the fact that we had a guaranteed program where you were in a certain class rank you meant you automatically got a scholarship was very, very unusual and we learned that because we were researching other schools websites.  The other thing that is very, very unique about the [current] scholarships is that it increases with tuition.  It was created in the early 90’s.  It was really revolutionary and it was what the college needed at that time.  As time has moved along, that program really hasn’t evolved and we needed it to based on our market, demographics, and all of that stuff.

Q: Do you think there is a solution for college debt?

A: I just think the way we do college with the very traditional on campus in the classroom…I think that we will evolve to a lot more online learning with a less expensive price tag.  I think we are starting to move in that direction, we are a long way, a way…that’s what I see as maybe happening in my lifetime.  College 20 years from now is probably not going to look like this residential life on campus, because I think it’s very expensive to maintain a physical plan.

Q: If you want to go to college and can’t afford college how do you think that should be handled? Should you go to community college?

A: Absolutely. When we see a family who we really don’t think can afford to be here.  We will absolutely council HACC for two years and then a transfer, which I think is a great solution to the cost.  And unfortunately, not every student cannot attend a private institution.  I’m just thankful that there are different types of institutions so all students can have access [to college]…it just might not be necessarily where they want to go.

Q: Anything that you wish LVC would do differently pertaining to financial aid and the “sticker price”? 

A: I wish that all the aid that we awarded was solely based on a family’s need.  Not that I don’t think that awarding hard-work is a good thing.  But, I just feel like the families that can pay should pay, and we should be trying to assist the families who need the funding.  That is a wild idea that I don’t think is going to ever happen here.  But, I would love to see all need based financial aid.