Student Loan Debt May Limit Career Options For Some Grads

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Mar 14th, 2011 @ 10:10 AM by Debbie Dragon
According to an article on CBS Money Watch, many students graduating college today are faced with such high debt that they are not able to pick the career of their first choice because the job wouldn't pay enough to pay back their student loans. Add credit card debt to the student loans and these young graduates are faced with pressures that generations before them never had to deal with.
While smart borrowing is advocated to get an education, there are many students today that are borrowing to the max and using part of their loan money to fund a lifestyle that after graduation they may not be able to keep up with. When it is time to graduate, they are then faced with tough career decisions, and many are not able to choose what they really want to do.
"A lot of times seniors will come in to talk about their options," says Stephen Seaward, career development director at St. Joseph's College in West Hartford, CT. "They'll ask what could they do with a degree in, say, psychology or English. They might be interested in human services; working with at-risk children or people with cognitive disabilities, or maybe they want to be a public defender. But at the rate they're amassing debt they realize that those fields aren't really an option because they won't be able to pay the loans back."
While many graduates are focused and wanting to make top dollar when it comes to career choices, regardless of whether or not they have student loan debt, more and more Seaward says he is seeing students who simply have that choice completely taken away from them. He worries that these students will have to choose careers they really won't enjoy which ultimately can lead to not living a very happy life.
Seaward says that there are also additional concerns that graduates face who are already in massive debt. One being that many employers today look at a potential new hire's credit history before they will consider offering them a position. Companies will often steer away from people who have a lot of debt, knowing they do not want their employees work to be influenced by any money issues the person may have.
According to the article the average debt of graduating students is as follows:
The average college graduate has $24,000 in student loans and will owe $276 a month for 10 years, according to the Project on Student Debt. The typical grad also has $4,100 in credit card debt, reports student-loan giant Sallie Mae.
The article also reports that according to a study debt impacts college grads as follows:47% of recent grads say their career pursuits are influenced by loan payments.40% of recent grads took a job that provided higher pay, but less satisfaction, in order to pay off their loans.Half of today's college students say they are willing to sacrifice career satisfaction for a bigger paycheck.One-third of today's college students say that student loans will influence their career choice.
According to the author of the article these are troubling findings. Certainly rising costs of a college education doesn't help and the long term affects to our society could be potentially devastating. The question is what can be done about it?
About Debbie Dragon
Debbie Dragon is a full time freelance writer and the co-owner of ReliableWriters.com.
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