A college education can be pricey, even in the Ozarks, and with student debt rising nationwide, many of those entering the work force today might be saddled with debt that they’ll carry for decades.
In May, U.S. student loan debt – which is increasing at a rate of $2,853 per second – surpassed $1 trillion for the first time, according to keepers of the Student Loan Debt Clock at
FinAid.org.
According to the organization, nearly two out of three bachelor’s graduates head into their careers with an average debt of $23,118.
In Missouri, those graduating in 2010 from public or private four-year institutions walked away with an average loan debt of $22,601, ranking Missouri at No. 28 among states, according to
ProjectOnStudentDebt.org, an initiative of the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit research and policy organization.
In southwest Missouri, Evangel University reported the highest amount of student debt, with an average debt level of $30,449, and College of the Ozarks students carried the least, with $5,389 on average.
Evangel graduate Stephanie Gerlek travels roughly 120 miles round trip five days a week for a job that will pay off her $54,000 student loan debt. Gerlek, a Springfield resident, took a job Aug. 2 as a mental health therapist at the Ozark Medical Center in Mountain Grove.
One of the job perks, she said, is that Ozark Medical Center is a member of the National Health Services Corps, and it serves a rural area, qualifying Gerlek for up to $60,000 in federal aid to help cover student debt. She travels so her husband – a disc jockey at a Springfield radio station – doesn’t have to, she said.
“The first couple years out of college I had to keep the loans mostly in deferment because I wasn’t making enough to make payments,” said Gerlek, who graduated from Evangel in 2005. “I didn’t want to use up all of my deferment time, so then I’d make payments and do what I had to to keep them in good standing.”
Bonnie Lyons, a May Drury University graduate, said her student loans exceed $20,000. The Kickapoo High School graduate said her strategy was to earn a degree from Drury in the hopes that its name and job placement offerings would lead to better career options. Lyons said she now earns a $42,000 salary working for the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, nearly $2,000 above the median salary for 2012 graduates with communications’ majors, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
“I viewed (the loans) as a trade-off, because I was getting really great opportunities and learning experiences at Drury that I thought I might not get at other places, and it would be those things that would help me get a job and get out from under that debt,” Lyons said.
Breanna Michel, owner of College Funding Opportunities LLC, a for-profit consulting firm, works with students and their parents to maximize grants and public aid. Michel, a 2004 Drury graduate who started consulting in April 2011 after previously working in her alma mater’s financial aid office, said a common misperception is that private colleges and universities are always more expensive than public schools. Often, private institutions have more programs or scholarships available for qualifying students, she said.
“Some schools may only meet 30 percent of your need, some schools meet 80 percent, some more than 100 percent, so we want to pick schools that can provide more free money for the family,” Michel said, adding that for rates ranging between $450 and $1,300 she can often negotiate aid with schools if a student has a notable academic record. “Just like there are tax loopholes, there are financial aid loopholes.”
Jon Poorman, a senior journalism major at Missouri State University, said he is becoming concerned about the roughly $40,000 he’ll owe when he graduates in December.Poorman, who served as 2011–12 editor-in-chief of MSU’s student newspaper, The Standard, plans to pursue sports reporting in the Houston, Texas, area after graduation. He expects that he’ll be able to earn a salary of around $25,000, a prospect that makes his school debt somewhat daunting.
“The situation is what it is. I’ve known all along that when I got out of school I’d have to pay off all my student loans,” Poorman said. “I wouldn’t say it worries me, but I’m not looking forward to it.”
Poorman borrowed the maximum loan amounts available to cover his costs for school, room and board, and household items such as groceries. To give him a jump-start on repayment, he said his parents already have started making payments on his student loans.
“I haven’t had a part-time job other than at The Standard since I started school. (My parents) really wanted me to focus on doing well at that and in school, so I’ve been pretty much dependent on them,” Poorman said.
For students who want to earn college degrees without staggering debt, the unique model at College of the Ozarks can be an option – but opportunities are limited.
Elizabeth Hughes, public relations director for College of the Ozarks, said many students are routinely fighting to get an education at the school, in large part, due to its efforts to minimize debt.
She said the school was dubbed Hard Work U. by the Wall Street Journal in 1973 because of its program that allows students to pay for tuition, room and board by working on-campus jobs.
College of the Ozarks, which has an estimated fall 2012 enrollment of 1,370, only selects about 9 percent of the students who apply for admission, and the first thing the school looks at, Hughes said, is a student’s inability to pay.
“Through the work-education program, students work 15 hours a week and two 40-hour work-weeks each year, and in exchange, the college guarantees to meet the entire cost of education. It’s able to do that through work scholarships, institutional scholarships and then any type of grant money the student might have been able to bring in,” Hughes said, adding that the school does not participate in federal student loan programs.
The result: Only 11 percent of graduating C of O seniors had loan debt. At the traditional public institution MSU, 69 percent of graduates entered the work force with loan debt, according to
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