Student Loans: An Increasing Burden

This summer, millions of college graduates passing into the working world will be facing a nearly 8 percent national unemployment rate. If they can find a job, odds are they may still have a hard time making ends meet, thanks to student loan debt. 

There is roughly $1 trillion in outstanding loan debt in the U.S. today, and the majority of borrowers still paying back their loans are in their 30's or older. With hopes of boosting the slumped national economy and decreasing student loan debt, President Obama and his administration are implementing the Pay as You Earn program, which will cap loan payments at 10 percent of discretionary income and forgive loans after 20 years of payments. This will be a decrease from the current Income-Based Repayment program, which caps payments at 15 percent and forgives loans after 25 years.

According to Pam Macias, student financial aid director at Point Loma Nazarene University, PAYE is the government’s attempt to provide a solution to widespread cuts to federal and state financial aid funding.

“What we see happening is it’s going to continue to reduce free aid, entitlement aid, to students both at the state and the federal level,” Macias said, “either through removal of programs or by increasing the requirements to be eligible for it to the point where there are certain students who are going to end up losing the eligibility, and therefore the funding.”

“I think any move [the government] makes trying to make it easier for students to have choice to go to the school they want to is a good move,” she said.

Pam Macias advises students to think before they borrow. 

According to Macias, 69 percent of students at Point Loma Nazarene University borrow at some point, and the average debt for public loans is $22,112. The default rate for loan payments at this private university is 3.1 percent, well below the national average of 13.4 percent. But, schools like PLNU are hamstrung in how much assistance they can provide, because they don’t provide degrees in the professions that often lead to the largest salaries: students who want to become doctors or lawyers must pursue their graduate degrees elsewhere, and those schools are more likely to see alumni donating money back into the school.

The Department of Education has set for PAYE to go into effect on Dec. 21, and the changes will take effect for new borrowers starting in 2014. 

            For more on national student loan statistics, and the history of student loans, see the charts below. 



http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/MzI0MzI0NDI2

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The History of Student Loans

on Dipity.

College: More than a Career Path?

Ghost Writing and the College Student

In a recent article for The Atlantic, Richard Gunderman, a professor at Indiana University, writes about the increasing popularity of "ghost written" student essays. Professional writers, including professors, will sometimes charge large sums of money to students, who will then pay for them to write a perfect essay, one that can easily escape plagiarism detection software. But how deep does the problem go? I sat down with Charlene Pate, director of the Writer's Studio at Point Loma Nazarene University, to talk about the issue.

http://soundcloud.com/jazzyjournalist/ws600021

College voter impact on the election

Romney or Obama? 7/11 is asking college students and
other visitors to take partisan sides in their drink choices. 

            With the deadline for registering to vote fast approaching, the role of the college-age youth vote in the election process is coming under increased scrutiny.

            During the 2008 presidential election, the youth came out to vote, driven by Barack Obama’s powerful social media campaigns and the influence of youth-oriented organizations such as Rock the Vote. Despite this, young voters still only made up about 19 percent of the electorate.

             And, according to a recent Pew Center study on voter enthusiasm, this year, the amount of voters age 18-29 who say they’re “more interested in the election than four years ago” has dropped 17 points, and those who are “following the election very closely” have dropped 12 points from 2008. Now, facing a stagnant job market and a surplus of student loans, many young people seem to be turned off by politics altogether.

College students who regularly read the news are more well-informed,
and thus more likely to vote, than their non-news savvy peers. 

           According to Lindsey Lupo, Point Loma Nazarene University professor of political science, although the youth vote increased in 2008, voter turnout among college-age students has consistently been low.

            “Since 1972 and the passage of the 26^th Amendment, there has been an average 17-point gap between 18-24-year-olds and those 25 years and older,” Lupo said.

            But, Lupo added, voter turnout is not the only criterion with which to measure political participation.

            “Youth are highly engaged in direct action, protests and volunteerism, for example,” she said. “To measure political participation by voting along is not a full picture of the election process. The college question is important; young people with college experience are twice as likely to vote than those without.” 

College across the nation are trying to get the word out
about the importance of voting. 

                                                                   

For John Reynolds, jazz is a lifelong passion

           

            John Reynolds still remembers vividly the first time he met world-class trumpet player Wynton Marsalis.

            “I was just 17,” Reynolds recalled. “I didn’t know anything about jazz. I was having trouble with my embouchure, and he handed me his trumpet. He told me about all the muscles I needed to work on.”

            Things have come full-circle. Reynolds, now a highly sought-after jazz trumpet player himself, recently wrote his doctoral dissertation on Marsalis’ work.

           Reynolds performed at PLNU’s Crill Performance Hall on Friday with his jazz quintet. The concert was a tribute to trumpet player Clifford Brown and his frequent collaborator, saxophonist Harold Land. The group evoked the memories of their musical forbears, playing the gamut from the gentle "Stompin' at the Savoy" to the aggressive, fast-paced "Hymn of the Orient." 

            Clifford Brown was an influential was an influential trumpet player, and a pioneer of warm, articulate sound that could sound just as good at blisteringly-fast tempos as it could in a ballad. His compositions, which include such standards as “Joy Spring” and “Daahoud,” emphasize complex harmonic progressions.  

            According to Reynolds, Brown has been a monumental influence on jazz trumpet players ever since.

            “He was the first jazz trumpet player I really, really listened to,” Reynolds said. He was one of the world’s best improvisers.”

            Reynolds graduated from PLNU in 2002, before going on to get his master’s at SDSU. This spring, he received his DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) in jazz studies from USC. He recently accepted a teaching job as a music director at the San Diego Creative and Performing Arts School.

           Between teaching, performing and giving private trumpet lessons, Reynolds doesn’t have much free time these days. He left straight from his performance at Crill on Friday for a 10:30 p.m. gig downtown. 

            For Reynolds, all of the gigs, the rehearsing and the long nights away from home are worth it. Jazz is worth it.

            “I’ve never quite been able to describe [jazz],” he said. “There’s something about the feeling of the music that I’ve always liked—that really resonates with me.” 

The history of jazz trumpet on Dipity.

The history of jazz trumpet on Dipity.

Local reporter driven by her own curiosity

This is an assignment for writing 430: Multimedia Journalism 

If you ask Jen Lebron Kuhney about her job, chances are she might answer you with more questions. After all, she makes a living off of asking questions.

When reflecting on what drives her as a reporter for U-T San Diego, Jen might talk about her fearlessness or her work ethic but, when it comes down to it, the fuel that keeps her running is her insatiable curiosity, a curiosity she began to cultivate writing for her middle school newspaper.

“I just started asking questions,” she recalled. “It was a way for me to have an outlet.”

What began as an outlet turned into something more, as Jen pursued her undergraduate degree in journalism at Point Loma Nazarene University. A 2008 graduate, she went on to write for the San Diego Daily Transcript before moving on to U-T San Diego, where she covers city government and breaking news.

In the face of an ever-changing industry, Jen, a self-proclaimed “nerd,” is engrossed by the variety of ways in which stories can be told. She blurs the line between “print” and “broadcast” journalist through her use of tools such as Evernote, Storify and Google Analytics.

Despite the often challenging nature of her job, for Jen, the appeal of being a reporter is simple.

“I love my job,” she said. “I love that I get to learn something new every single day.”