FAFSA as Free Money? Understanding Student Loan Obligations

Understanding Student Loan Debt is Your Responsibility

Watch just about any news program and you will hear reports filled with commotion over the FAFSA and student loan obligations and repayment plans. Cries for Congressional action to solve problems associated with student debt are common, and yet, there has been very little call for students and families to solve their problems of accruing student loan debt through increased understanding of repayment plans and the power of accountability.

Those crying out for justice for young adults sinking under boatloads of student loan debt make the borrower out to be a helpless victim, and yet being able to repay one’s debts is a major indicator of adulthood and being able to handle adult responsibility.

Granted, student loan debt is a huge expanse in the lives of many Americans today, but as potential borrowers, it is the student’s responsibility to know what he is getting into before signing any papers or agreeing to take any handouts.

With all of the paperwork associated with student loans however, this can be a daunting task. Over the next several weeks, we will look at the different types of loans, repayment options, and what it means to defer or default on those loans. We will also look at what this means for the American taxpayer and the economy as a whole.

It is not enough to cross our fingers and hope that the government or some private scholarship committee will come in and sweep our debt worries away. We must be proactive in understanding what we are getting into and what our children are getting into before agreeing to “free money.” While the FASFA and other monies meant for college bound students can be a tremendous and often necessary aspect to funding college education, it is not something to be grabbed without intellectual reflection on what that “free money” really means and how it will be paid back.

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Kerri Martin has spent the last ten years working to get high school and transfer students into the colleges of their choice through test prep and proper planning.  While she knows that few opportunities surpass a quality education, she never wants to see a student or family go into extreme debt and forfeit their future to attend a dream school. She believes an educated consumer makes the best student and citizen. As the single mother of five boys, Kerri knows how difficult it is to say no to her children, but she also knows that teaching them to be responsible and realistic is important to them growing up right.