Professor Parker
RWS 280
March 10, 2013
The Beauty of Student Loans I owe $40,000, I owe $60,000, I owe $100,000. Isn’t that a lot of money for one person to owe? Graduates have been faced with a serious problem brought about by the constant borrowing of money to gain a reputable education. The debt of loans varies from person to person but the extreme amounts that individuals owe is something the media finds worth gossiping about. Little does the public know, in reality, all the commotion and conversation about these debts are not accountable for the majority of college borrowers. According to A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely by Robin Wilson, she intrigues her targeted college audience by giving examples and providing awareness that most individuals are paying back their students loans within a timely manner with just a few sacrifices. Wilson emphasizes that the real reason individuals have an outstanding debt is because “they are determined to attend their dream college, no matter the cost” (257). There are various reasons why students take out loans and Wilson is determined to clear up the confusion of student debt, she encourages college students to take out loans even with media’s negativity, and lastly she tries to enlighten this targeted college group that debts are repayable with additional sacrifices but in the end, that debt was the best decision they have ever made. The majority of individuals overhear media and see newspapers headlining the outrageous student loan stories. “Is it going to be the careful story driven by the data, or is it going to be the headline that can scare people?” (258). The media will seek attention-grabbing news by focusing on a headline that will scare millions of individuals. According to a CNN report in 2006, “they called student loans A Life Sentence and said: Forget about getting married and buying a home. This generation is thinking about next month’s payment” (258). While the media blasts out these
Cited: Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. "They Say, I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing : With Readings. New York: Norton, 2012. Print.