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Education is our fundamental right. It is imperative that we try every bit that we can to acquire a good education. Well, for years now this has been the motto of the people in America. But the rising cost of education, tuition and the piling education loan debt, paints another image altogether.

The rate of defaulters on students’ loans is increasing every year now. This means more and more students are enrolling into the for-profit colleges as well. The secretary of the education department stated that the rise in the percentage of the loan defaulters has been on the rise since 2008. In the year 2008, it was up by seven percent while it had been a 6.7 percent a year before.

Also it has been seen that the rate of defaulters within the public run institutions is increasing as well; it has gone up from 5.9 percent to 6 percent. On the other hand, rise in the number of defaulters in private institutions is comparatively less at 4 percent.  However, on the whole, it does not look good. This is because if the system continues to be the same, the percentage of defaulters will only rise.

In the past two years, approximately three million people took education loans and from the three million at least two hundred thousand have defaulted. It is simple; they just cannot find the jobs to repay their loans and sustain themselves. Many have had to give up their courses in between because they could not afford to pay the interest rates, repay loans etc. Such students unfortunately could not get jobs that paid them enough to stay afloat and are left with a bad credit record.

This very issue has been raised many times within the education department as to how do the for-profit schools/colleges along with other educational institution continue to allow students into their courses even when they know they are incapable of handling the financed. Many students and parents mortgage everything the have to acquire a seat at a prestigious institution. But what happens later is that they are left in a limbo. They are not able to complete their education or get a degree. And with incomplete education and no degree, there are of course no jobs.

So what does one do in such a scenario? The government has of course come up with plans to protect the students from falling into such traps. They want the educational institutions to run a background check to see whether or not the student can afford the education. On the other hand, the institutions should guide the students to a better means of loan repayment and loan acquiring scheme. 

For students and parents taking loans for higher education is more of an emotional decision than a practical one. Every child has a dream of aiming high and the parents want to see their children get their best. However, taking huge loans for higher education is not the way to go about it.