THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
ARTS
INSIDE Many students deal with food insecurity
Son of Westboro Baptist Church leader speaks about
p. 3
childhood abuse, church The University Daily Kansan
vol. 135 // iss. 7 Mon. Sept. 11, 2017
Volleyball suffers straight-set loss to Creighton on Saturday Student brings female voice to fairy tales p.7
SEE WESTBORO • PAGE 5
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THE PRICE WE PAY A LOOK AT HOW STUDENTS STRUGGLE WITH THE WEIGHT OF DEBT “I just really didn’t understand the scope of it all, and how expensive college would really be.” Stewart Merz junior
Jennifer Grogg recently started school at the University to get her bachelor’s in English literature, adding thousands of dollars to her already existing debt. Grogg left Kansas when she was 19 years old to attend culinary school in Washington, and after a few years of bouncing around the country, received her associate degree in creative writing at Santa Fe Community College in New Mexico. Grogg is already one of the 44.2 million Americans with student loan debt. Almost seven in 10 seniors, approximately 68 percent, who graduated from a public or non-profit college in 2015 had student debt, according to the Institute for College Access and Success. It is estimated that the total amount of student debt is around $1.44 trillion, second only to mortgage debt. In Kansas, the average student loan debt is $28,008. Among public universities in the state, the University of Kansas had the second highest average student debt amount at $27,492, for those who graduated in 2015. Grogg said once she knew she wanted to come back to Kansas — she grew up in LeRoy — the University of Kansas was the only university she applied to. “I was coming home regardless of if I got in or not,” she said. However, since she left when she was 19 years old and is coming back to the state in her mid-30s, she is consid-
ered an out-of-state student. “It adds tens of thousands of dollars of debt, because I have no way to prove that I would be coming back to Kansas regardless of if I were going to KU,” she said. Junior Stewart Merz, a Lawrence native majoring in political science and history, said he feels student debt is a topic that is not discussed as much as it should be among students. Merz has been financing his education with scholarships and grants, he said, and expects to graduate with below the average student debt amount. Merz said he didn’t really understand how loans and paying for college worked when he was in high school. “I just really didn’t understand the scope of it all, and how expensive college would really be,” he said. Merz added that this is something many high school students do not fully comprehend either. “I feel like in high school no one really understands how they’re going to be paying for college exactly,” he said. “They kind of have a little bit of a culture shock almost when a lot of people have that realization, that they’re going to have to go thousands of dollars into debt to be able to go to school where they want.” Interestingly enough, not having enough money is not one of the main reasons for students dropping out of the University, according to Matt Melvin, vice provost of enrollment management. Melvin said the University is making efforts to keep college af-
fordable. “Significant investments have been made in an effort to keep KU affordable for students and families as well as to assist students in learning how to successfully manage their money,” he said. Additionally, he said that the University offers strategies to manage debt to students and their families. Among these strategies, Melvin said the University encourages timely degree completion as a debt reduction strategy as well as accelerating time to degree if feasible for a student. “Summer is not a catchup as much as an accelerator so we would encourage students to begin thinking of leveraging summer offerings early in their career as part of their overall graduation planning and debt reduction strategies,” he said. Sabrina Gregersen, a fifth-year doctorate student in the department of psychology, said, based on her experience, many first-generation students do not have the guidance needed to navigate the application to financial aid and scholarships. Gregersen took nine years to finish her undergraduate studies, accumulating around $25,000 in debt by the time she graduated. She worked full-time and took out loans only to cover college expenses (tuition and books), she said. “Of course, I started my undergrad in 2001, so tuition was a lot different then,” she said. “I look at the cost of tuition now and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh,
ANGIE BALDELOMAR @AngieBaldelomar
Sarah Wright/KANSAN Stewart Merz is a double major studying political science and history, with a minor in Spanish.
Sarah Wright/KANSAN Jennifer Grogg is a first-semester transfer student studying English literature.
Sarah Wright/KANSAN Sabrina Gregersen is a fifth-year doctoral student studying psychology.
SEE DEBT • PAGE 2
44.2 MILLION
TOTAL STUDENT
STUDENT DEBT
68% OF 2015
THE AVERAGE
KU’S 2015
AMERICANS HAVE
DEBT IS ESTIMATED
IS THE SECOND
GRADUATES FROM
STUDENT LOAN
GRADUATES HAD
STUDENT LOAN
AT $1.44 TRILLION
HIGHEST DEBT IN
PUBLIC OR NON-
DEBT IN KANSAS
AN AVERAGE
DEBT
IN THE U.S.
THE U.S. BEHIND
PROFIT COLLEGES
IS $28,008
DEBT OF $27,492
MORTGAGE DEBT
HAD DEBT