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MI Univ. to Help Pay Student Loans for Grads
From Fox News and the AP...
"A Christian University in Michigan is offering to help their graduates pay off their student loans if the students struggle to do so with a post-graduate income.
Spring Arbor University announced last week in a press release it will automatically enroll incoming freshman in a loan repayment assistance program starting this fall.
The program guarantees that students and their parents get help in repaying loans if a graduate's income fails to meet what the school calls an "upper-income threshold" of $37,000 annually.
Graduates who make less than $20,000 a year will be reimbursed for the entire amount of their student loans. The graduate's benefit will be decreased proportionately as they approach the $37,000 threshold. The assistance continues until the graduate's income rises past $37,000 or the loan is paid off.
The school says it will cover federal students loans, private alternative loans and parent PLUS loans.
Enrollment in the program is free, but graduates must work at least 30 hours per week after graduating to be eligible.
The school says in the release it wants students to be relieved of the concerns associated with paying for a private, Christian education in an uncertain job market.
Spring Arbor President Charles Webb tells the Associated Press the school wants to provide "students and their families with peace of mind."
The Associated Press contributed to this report."
Re: MI Univ. to Help Pay Student Loans for Grads
How is this funded? They must have one hell of an endowment to be able to fund this without cutting into programs.
I agree with this. I think it's a marketing ploy that will prove to be underfunded. We shall see!
If they can fund it, good for them. I just question it's feasibility.
Upon further reading, I think they may not be taking much of a risk with this program. Considering graduates have to work a minimum of 30 hours a week, and how much assistance they receive will depend on their income, makes me wonder how many would even benefit.
I'd imagine that the percentage of students who graduate from such a small school and can't make a wage above poverty level while working at least 30 hours a week is low. I may have to adjust my opinion when they release the full salary requirements for the program.
They must have funding for it, but I haven't found the information.
I went to their website. The cost for this school (private) for 2012-2013 (fees and tuition) is $22,538.
Nationally, the average cost of a private education (fees and tuition) is around: $31,775 (as assumed by the College Board).
By comparison, the national average cots of a public education (per College Board data) is around $9,450 for fees and tuition.
Yes so you could get a less costly education at a public school, which has almost always been the case. But, if you wanted a private education, clearly this school is already lower than the national average by around $10k.
I think it's a nice gesture if the school can afford it. However it could also turn out to have some unintended consequences - ie meant to help students who can't get a well-paying job in their field but what's to stop a student from then taking a lower-paying 'dream job' over an available better paying one because, you know, 'the school will take care of my loans.'
Also, this program doesn't address the age-old argument of whether it's right for a student to go into debt studying a field they are well aware may not pay the bills or have decent job prospects. From that perspective this program is just enabling.
My next door neighbor's son went to this school on a football scholarship. The school has a very limited number of degrees/majors. Neighbor knew going into it that he would have to transfer after a couple of years in order to go to a school that offered the major he wanted. So he attempted to enroll in just classes that would transfer to his transfer school of choice. The university would not allow it. Spring Arbor has a requirement of MANY religious classes in order to graduate. They demanded that scholarship students fulfill the region class requirements first before enrolling in other courses. neighbor knew the religion classes wouldn't count at all toward his degree at a different school. As a freshman, he was the last to register for courses specific to his major, after the upper classmen. His football scholarship only covered a portion of his tuition. He dropped out after a year and is now in community college, Once he completes his basic studies, he'll enroll in a public 4 year university to finish up.
He thought he had done the right thing by working hard to get a football scholarship that made education at a private university possible. Instead, he has more student loan debt than if he had just gone to a public university and paid for it himself. He has a ton of religion credits, but nothing that will do him any good in his chosen major.
I would be very distrustful of this loan repayment program. Something about this school doesn't seem right to me.
This is interesting.
However, I wager a guess that the student probably knew ahead of time what the operating procedures for the school were/are. Before attending, he accepted them. Either that or it's exceptationally poor planning on his part. Or, if he got in NOT knowing the requiremnts, why didn't he transfer out in the first semester?
I don't think this is the university's fault or problem here.
I liken this to the people (whom I've talked with) who balk at having to do tours of duty abroad in the military, stating, "Oh I signed up to get college paid for, I didn't actually think I'd have to go fight in a war. This is so unfair."
If you enroll or sign up for something you'd better darn well know what you're getting into.
I do agree with ML here. I had partial scholarship to two very religious schools (Kbmom can judge my Christianity now) but there were a lot of required religion courses. I would be paying about 25% of the tuition out of my own funds.
I have nothing against the religion courses, per say, but from an ROI perspective it was wasted money. I would rather be paying for classes that would be applicable to my degree and future profession.