For a growing number of students, education debt is becoming a familiar and common reality.
Borrowing money for a college education is unlike any financial experience that exists today.
Unlike taking out a loan for a car or a mortgage for a home, students enroll in a cycle of continuous investing-potentially carrying on for a lifetime.
Faced with a number of challenges at the onset of their college experience, students are
borrowing without regard to the future impact of their decision making, placing incredible strain and emphasis on the value of their education. Further, they rely heavily on the knowledge and decision making of others to guide their financial management experiences. Students are also discovering that their support needs and expectations are not being met through the traditional service offerings of Financial Aid offices and other such university resources. In regard to borrowing for education, these factors create a generation of students faced with inconceivable amounts of debt that lack the financial capability, experience, and resources necessary to gain a better perspective.
Design serves as a positive vehicle for change in an area where students need assistance.
Students are in need of a better experience, one that provides them greater value in support of their future growth as students and members of the greater society. Without change, students will continue to pursue their financial experiences with apathy or carelessness; consequently, debt rates will continue to rise with inflation and new generations of graduates will face adulthood on the cusp of financial ruin.