Americans owe more in student debt than they do in auto loans and credit card debt. From 1999 to 2010, student debt has skyrocketed from $48.9 billion to $109.9 billion. Burdened with this financial trouble makes it difficult for students to move on to adult life — buy a house, start a business, get a job. With the combination of such debt and the current economic situation, post-graduation students are staying at home, getting menial jobs that don’t take advantage of their degrees and getting a graduate degree only to avoid such troubles.

These troubles, in turn, create secondary issues. Take, primarily, the jobs issue. The unemployment rate for those 18 to 29 is nearly 50 percent above the national average, and the percentage of the workforce under 25 has fallen 13.2 percent since 2008. Recently graduated students have to fight off older workers who are staying the workforce longer. As a result, graduates have a more difficult time getting into an occupation and a career, rather than just a “job.” and instead take jobs that are usually held by high school students (which, again, lowers the percentage of teens who are working — a factor which contributes to students needing loans and how much is needed in loans).

And while attending graduate school at times can seem a good financial option, as it allows payment on loans to be deferred until graduation, it ultimately increases the amount due. Perhaps worse, it weakens the value of a graduate degree. When a majority of these degrees are used as an escape from the “real world,” or a way to postpone adult life and responsibilities, it damages the reputation of the degree as a desire for a higher, greater level of knowledge. 

Compounding all of these issues weakens the United States, a nation already in danger because of a continuously struggling economy. The United States ranks 14th in reading, 25th in math, and 17th in science according to a Guardian article published in 2010. 

By limiting the choices of our students, we are limiting our potential as a nation. Instead of allowing students to dream of putting a man on Mars or of writing the next “Gatsby,” we are corralling them into dreams of an affordable education, of being able to afford community college, of finding work — any work — after graduation.

I don’t believe that every person needs to go to college, nor that every person should go. But those who want to go, who see some value in a degree and who will be able to not only better themselves but the world around them, should have the freedom to attend. This is completely selfish: I want the freedom to attend. More importantly, I want you to attend. I want to watch another rover land on Mars. I want energy efficient cars and homes. I want faster healing scars, safer cars and beautiful buildings. And I can’t do those things. You have to. You want to.

Education should not be limited to what we can afford when what we can afford is not in always within our control. By stifling the ability of the nation’s students to attend the best possible schools and receive the best possible education, we limit their achieving potential. So many of the debates in the United States today revolve around what is a “right” and what is a “privilege.” Americans need to decide where education falls.

Like anything, no single solution will fix the issue. There are arguments for privatized education rather than further government funding, just as there are those who seek to embrace the Swedish method. The eventual solution is less important than getting a solution. But by postponing a solution, by ignoring resolutions and delaying votes, all that gets accomplished is an extension of economic deterioration.

Sarah is a senior is LAS. She can be reached at [email protected].