Sarah: Economic Profile of a College Student by Annie

When I interview Sarah, I got a look into the life of a working college student who is trying to make everything come together for herself. Sarah is twenty-two and an undergraduate student at PSU studying phycology. As someone looking at my future at college right now, it was interesting to hear her journey to get to college and hear about her economic pursuits as well. She explained that she was originally studying business, because she thought that it would give her more job opportunities, but upon realizing that she was not passionate about business she switched to following a passion and began studying phycology. I was inspired by this because I am also trying to figure out what I am passionate about and her explanation helped me to consider my options. She feels that her choice to attend PSU has greatly impacted her economic well-being because she was offered the best financial aid package, which will allow her to repay her student loans faster than she would otherwise. Her decision to attend PSU has greatly impacted her economic well-being and she believes that it will allow her many more options in the future.

She grew up in Newberg with her family and attended Newberg high school. When she moved to Portland for college she initially lived with her sister, because that economically made the most sense for her. When her sister was unable to afford her living there, she began to pay rent but eventually figured out that it would be best to live in the dorms. After a bad roommate, she decided to get her own apartment and is now living with her boyfriend in a new apartment. She currently works half-time as a Portland Parks and Recreation employee in addition to attending school full time. This part time $15/hour job allows her to pay for things not covered by her student loans, such as rent, food, and other necessities. As a government employee, she thinks that the government is helping her now by providing her a job and giving her access to federal financial aid. She sees this wage as enough to pay her bills but recognizes that it isn’t the easiest way to live. As a full time student, she must divide her time between school and work so that she is able to afford living in Portland. She would prefer to not have to work as much, so that she can spend more time with friends.

She does not identify with any social class, since she is a student and just trying to get by. She thinks that once she graduates she will become a member of the working class. At the moment, she thinks that she is worse than her parents economically, because she is piling on student loans. She hopes to be able to pay off her loans quickly so that she can help support her parents. Her dream is to pay off her student loans in 20 years so that she can start saving for retirement, which she is currently not doing. Her economic fear is that her debt will become crippling, but at the moment seems very hopeful about her prospects. Her economic advice to me is to seek out the best student loans possible and consider the cost when looking at schools. She has seen friends who have received loans that will be difficult to pay off. Additionally, she advises to be frugal with spending because sometimes unexpected costs come and is thankful that she doesn’t have to live paycheck to paycheck.

I picked the following photo to represent Sarah because she seems to be balancing her school and work very well. She seems to be doing well both in school and at work. I am impressed by how well she manages these two things, which is why I chose the image below to represent her.

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/school-or-work

After talking with Sarah, I realized the sacrifice of college. This reminded me of one of our early units that discussed the cost of college and questioned if it is worth it. Personally, I always saw college as worth it, but I am in the privileged position where I don’t have to worry about how I am going to pay for college. Hearing about how she valued going to college, even though she if very busy was a unique perspective. Additionally, she has taken on a lot of loans, meaning that she has made an economic investment in her own future. Hearing about how she thought about which loans and which education would be best for her, made me think about our unit on personal finance where we thought through the loans. She seemed to consider the question of if college was worth it. In her opinion, college is worth it but the student loans are not, one main reason why she chose to go to PSU. Hearing her opinion on the impact of student loans on her life, made me think a lot about the economics behind my college decision which is something I have not taken a lot of time to consider.

I also thought about this decision with relationship to the economic principle “All choices have consequences that are in the future and reshape what is possible”. She chose to attend PSU because she received better financial aid, means that she has made a decision for her future to have fewer student loans which is an admirable decision. I am not sure if I would be able to make this decision for myself. She seems to be very hopeful about her future. Sarah is still in school, but once she graduates will have more possibilities open for her in the future. Although, she did not think she is doing better than her parents, she has a lot of possibilities open to her in the future.

When looking into the economics of student loans I found the following graph. In this graph it shows that unpaid student loans are continuing to increase. People agree to these loans when they are 18, but are continuing to pay off loans for many years. It is interesting to consider how this one economic decision makes a big impact in your life for many years. The college decision and student loans is really the first decision that I will have to make that will so directly impact my economic future. I thought that this graph represented the considerable impact of student loans.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SLOAS

Another graph that was interesting looks at the changing interest rates. I thought that this graph was particularly interesting because it represents the continually changing interest rates. When choosing a student loan you are locked into one interest rate and can’t refinance the rate. This fact compared to the increasing amount of unpaid student loans suggests the arbitrary nature of the interest rate each loan is given, despite the fact that interest rates do continue to change. It is interesting to consider how this one decision does impact the rest of your life.

http://www.economagic.com/

By hearing Sarah’s story and looking at the economics behind student loans, I am more interested in considering the economic impact of choosing different college choices. I know that I have not thought a lot about the economic impact of student loans and I think that I should pay more attention to it because it is something that greatly affects people’s future.