According to Shireman, many community college officials also believe students at their schools have less of a need to borrow than students at four-year colleges, due to lower tuition and fees at two-year schools. Though Shireman concedes that this is “probably true on average,” there “are plenty of students who do need help and need to take out loans.
“In the current credit climate, access to federal student loans is more important than ever. It makes no sense for a community college to force low-income students to choose between taking out an expensive private loan or dropping out of school,” Shireman says. He adds that local communities “should demand that their students have access to the same safe and affordable borrowing options as students at other colleges.”
The Project on Student Debt is managed by the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for making higher education more available and affordable for people of all backgrounds. For more information, visit www.projectonstudentdebt.org and www.ticas.org.
Click here to post and read comments
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
