What Does $659 Million In Student Debt Look Like?
By Charlie Eisenhood
Over the summer, Gawker reported that NYU holds the illustrious title of the non-profit higher education institution with the highest total student debt in the country. That number? $659 million. That’s more than a half billion dollars. It’s nearly impossible to fathom that large a number.
Because we think the student debt crisis is such an important issue, NYU Local has partnered with former NYU student Andrew Jenks, an award-winning filmmaker and the host of the MTV show World of Jenks. After traveling the country shooting his show and meeting hundreds of young people, Jenks became committed to talking about the issues facing the Millennial generation.
We are lucky that Jenks has decided to open that discourse here at NYU. Next Wednesday, February 16th, at 3:30 PM in Washington Square Park’s Holley Plaza, there will be a demonstration to see just what $659 million in student debt looks like. You can RSVP on Facebook here. All you need to do is estimate how much debt you will graduate from NYU with and show up. Major TV and media coverage is expected.
The ballooning tuition and respective lack of financial aid stand alone as the most controversial topics at the university over the past decade. Say what you want about Take Back NYU and their haphazard occupation; the organization existed and, for a short time, thrived because students were angry about the price we pay to go to school here.
Amazingly, despite a recession and labor market crisis that will leave our generation in an economic slump for decades, dissent about NYU’s cost of attendance, financial aid packaging, and aggressive growth has been quiet to nonexistent in the past two years. Yet a storm is brewing. American students took out record amounts of student loans last year. Among those students with loans, the average debt load at graduation was $24,000 in 2009. At NYU, it was nearly 40% higher, at $33,487.
In a recent Huffington Post article, Jenks wrote:
The thousands of stories that I have come across have left a deep impression on me. These are not just notes of desperation. These are remarkable stories of resilience. It’s clear that we are a generation seeking answers. Most importantly, each story demonstrates how urgent it is that we make a difference — that we, as young people, can be part of the solution, not the problem. […]
Collective action has worked in the past: large numbers of everyday people rallying to put shame on those that are not giving them a fair deal. It’s what Roosevelt did to the banks. It’s what civil rights leaders did to their politicians. It’s a way to get tangible results that make a real difference in peoples’ lives. It’s perhaps the best way to say that the world is not anyone’s inheritance; it’s what each generation makes it. […]
In the coming months, I along with many other young people will work together to achieve a civic discourse that results in a world that our generation will be proud to hand off to the next.
Everyone’s story is different and everyone faces different challenges. Come hear about some of them. Just as an example, one of our collaborators, a Tisch photo major, is set to graduate with over $100,000 in debt. Even if you aren’t taking out loans to pay for school, come support your classmates.
We have a unique opportunity to start a conversation that could affect real change both at NYU and around the country. There will be no outrageous demands and no silly antics. Just students coming together to put pressure on the universities, policy makers, and politicians that have allowed the student debt crisis to spiral out of control. Let’s show that we’re paying attention. Be heard, NYU.
