Research Blog 7: My Case

Default: The Student Loan Documentary

Relevant Links:

Default: The Student Loan Documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvQR93C6n2E

The Proposal to Forgive Student Loan Debt:

http://www.forgivestudentloandebt.com/content/proposal

To frame my argument about the relationship between higher education privatization and experiences of stress, anxiety and depression in college students, I will look closely at the film Default: The Student Loan Documentary. This film examines the current state of the student loan industry and the resulting economic and personal stress experienced by student borrowers. Student loan experts, activists and borrowers come together in this film to chronicle the life of privatization from its advent through modern day in an effort to expose the true culprit of the financial stress experienced by college attendees and graduates. Default ties in many of the themes that I have discovered thus far in my research. Most prominently, this film addresses the widespread personal responsibility shift that has occurred through the passage of Acts such as the Higher Education Act of 1968 and the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act. As Lauren Asher, President of The Institute for College Access and Success explains, students from low income families attending college during America's Golden Age would have been able to graduate from college with no debt by working only a minimum wage job part-time during the semester and full-time during the summer, while that same student today would have to borrow private loans to make their way through college today. This film will be useful in providing multiple specific cases which illustrate the devastating effects of the private loan industry. From Matt who owes more than $200,000 in student loan debt and has experienced stress carry-over into his personal romantic relationships, to Gregory who worked three part-time jobs each semester of college and still graduated with $30,000 in student loan debt, and Jelisa who was awarded two different government grants, works a part-time job during the semester, and still needed student loans only to graduate in $60,000+ in student loan debt, it becomes clear through this documentary that the root cause of this issue does not lie in any deficit of the individual, but in a corrupt loan system. Lastly, this documentary offers compelling ways to solve this student loan crisis. Methods such as "outing yourself" involve vocalizing the financial stress experienced by individuals in an effort to highlight the socio-systemic cause of financial stress, while grass roots movements allow students the opportunity to advocate for their own causes and beliefs. But perhaps the most radical of solutions was proposed by Robert who wrote The Proposal to Forgive All Student Loan Debt. While this proposal did not pass congress, it provides an interesting an interesting viewpoint on the ways our loan dollars could be put to use if not lied up in the student loan industry. While I am not yet sure how I will incorporate The Proposal into my argument, I have attached the link for further consideration.