The Student Loan Debt Total - 1736 Words

The student loan debt total was about nine hundred and two million dollars to one trillion dollars in the United States in 2012; the federal student loan debt made up about eight hundred and sixty-four billion dollars of the total debt (Driscoll and Clapp). Many people in the United States that cannot afford college tuition and additional fees take student loans and/or federal grants. Student loans are different from federal grants in that the loans have to be paid back with interest, while federal grants do not have to be paid back. A federal grant is also known as financial aid. Students with lower income are less likely to attend college because of student loan debts. The government does provide some help, however, there are limits†¦show more content†¦People, who are able to attend and graduate college, have a greater probability of getting jobs with high salaries. College should be more accessible to more people because graduating college has proven beneficial to the economy, seeing that it helps raise the student’s standard of living by giving them a higher chance of getting jobs that pay better salaries, which in turn provides more tax revenue. College gives most college graduates an improvement in their standard of living by giving them a higher chance of getting a well-paid job. Standard of living is the â€Å"level of consumption that an individual, group, or nation has achieved† (â€Å"Standard of Living†). It also refers to the environment, wealth, comfort, income, material goods and necessities available to a specific socioeconomic class in a specific geographic area, the number of dependents in a family, and educational opportunities. Factors, such as unemployment and low wages, can bring down the standard of living, while higher wages and an increase of jobs could raise the standard of living. High school is inadequate in preparing students for working in life (Kingsley and Vance). Nowadays, in society, a college degree is needed for the development of a career instead of just a high school diploma. In earlier generations, a high school diploma would be all that a person would need to prepare for a career in life, and college was