Imagine, for a moment, that you are twenty-two again. You finally have your degree after four years of working hard in college. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Your entire life is ahead of you, and you've got big plans. You're ready to change the world.
But you're young, and the economy is, frankly, a mess. Jobs are scarce in almost every field, and chances are your field isn't hiring at all. You send out resume after resume and don't hear back, despite your stellar credentials. Imagine the disappointment you must feel. You worked hard for a degree in a field you were interested in. You were so sure that your career was going to take off, but now you're stuck waiting tables in a diner just to pay your bills.
The bill that scares you the most? Your insanely overwhelming student loans. Loans whose interest rate is planned to skyrocket from 3.4% to 6.8% in the summer of 2012.
Your life has hardly begun, and you’re already miles deep in dept. It's not something you can blame yourself for; you weren't wrong to pursue a good education. And it's difficult to pinpoint a specific reason for the horrendous employment situation that America is facing right now. In the absence of a scapegoat, you become bitter and unhappy. You’ve aged a lifetime from the bright-eyed person you once were into a hardened cynic, drowning in debt with no way out.
This anecdote will become a reality for millions if the federal student loan interest rate reverts this July. Millions of people like me. I am eighteen years old, unemployed, and like many my age, I am terrified to start college next year. Not for fear of experiencing something different from what I've known at home all my life, but for fear of eventually paying off my student loans. I have won scholarships. I was given a little bit of money from FAFSA. But, like so many others, it isn't enough. I will have to take out loans and eventually pay them back, plus interest. And that's scary.
The reality is that jobs cannot be guaranteed for anyone in this economy, much less students fresh out of college. The longer it takes to secure a job, the longer it takes to pay off loans, which means that interest will keep piling up.
The law passed in 2007 was an attempt to slow down the buildup of interest. While many believe it made little difference, the fact of the matter is that 3.4% interest and 6.8% interest are two very different things. By allowing the interest rate to revert back to this unacceptable amount, you are allowing an innumerable amount of people to experience the fate I have illustrated. So many people are already living in this nightmarish reality. Too many. Please, don't add to the already unfairly high number of people suffering through this. Take action. Don't ruin the lives of so many young people before they've even begun.