Research Blog 10: Abstract and Bibliography

Abstract: 

This research examines the prevalence of stress among current and recently graduated college students, and attempts to create a causal relationship between experiences of stress and anxiety and the privatization of higher education. This paper aims to identify in our country, the socio-systemic roots of the stress epidemic as they lie in a lack of financial knowledge and awareness and typical neo-liberal business practices. Discussions of stress-carry over and the medicalization of stress will be useful in understanding why individual accountability for financially motivated stress and anxiety is only continuing a cycle of isolation which can only be broken by comprehensive reform to the student loan industry. At the conclusion of this research the reader should have a strong understanding of the reasons why financial stress manifests in the individual, the ways in which the persuasive power of loan institutions in our government and schools perpetuates this stress, and how we can learn to view this stress as a systemic social health problem

References:

Avard, Stephen, et al. “The Financial Knowledge of College Freshmen.” College Student Journal 39.2 (2005): 321-339. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

Becker, Dana. One Nation Under Stress: The Trouble With Stress As An Idea. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.

Collinge, Alan. The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History- and How We Can Fight Back. Boston: Beacon Press, 2009. Print.

            Davis, Christopher, et al. “The Consequences of Financial Stress for Individuals, Families, and Society” Centre for Research on Stress, Coping and Well-Being. (2004):1-32. Web. 3 Mar 2014.

Default: The Student Loan Documentary. Dir. Aurora Meneghello. Perf. Anya Kamenetz, Carmen Berkeley, Alan Collinge, Robert Applebaum. Krotala Films, 2011. Film.

Hacker, Jacob. The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Health Care and Retirement and How You Can Fight Back. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Print.

Lee, John. “Higher Education and Privatization.” NEA Higher Education Research Center Update 10.2 (2004): 1-6. National Education Association. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Lewin, Tamar. “Record Level of Stress Found in College Freshmen.” The New York Times     26 Jan. 2011, sec. Education: 1-3 The New York Times. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.

Pedersen, Daphne E. "Stress Carry-Over And College Student Health Outcomes." College Student Journal 46.3 (2012): 620-627. ERIC. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.

Literature Review 5

Avard, Stephen, et al. "The Financial Knowledge Of College Freshmen." College Student Journal 39.2 (2005): 321-339. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

This article largely focuses the ways in which financial stress experienced by student loan borrowers stems from a lack of financial prepardness in high school. Avard discusses the reasons why college students are unprepared, legislation which has attempted to correct this issue, and proposed solutions to resolve the financial stress problem.

Terms:

Debt loads: the amount of debt an individual is carrying at a given time

The Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy: an organization formed in 1995 aimed at improving financial literacy among American youth.

Helpful Quotes:

"...Perhaps universities should regard financial knowledge as being a component to their general education program and require a course in personal finance of all its students" (Avard 1)

"The emphasis in high school curriculum is on preparation for college or on acquiring skills necessary to obtain a job and to earn an income. Very little of the student's studies focus on how to effectively use the income in dealing with financial matters such as bank accounts, investments, mutual funds, mortgages, credit cards, loans, Social Security, insurance and taxes. Only if a student has taken a high school course in consumerism, finance or in economics would he or she be exposed somewhat to every day financial issues while in school" (Avard 1).

"The low level of knowledge will limit their ability to make informed decisions" (Avard 3).

This article is extremely valuable to my argument as it provides insights to the beginnings of financial stress before college even begins. This article will be helpful in enforcing my argument of student loan borrowers as "personal responsibility crusaders" (Hacker) as Avard positions the borrowers in a way in which they are responsible for their own financial literacy, as opposed to holding loan companies accountable for their corrupt practices. 

Research Blog 9: Argument and Counter-Argument

Throughout my research paper I seek to investigate the ways in which stress has been individualized in our society, and denied as a social health problem. I begin with an examination of financial stress and they ways in which financial stress "carries over" to other areas of an individual's life. The latter half of my argument focuses on the ways in which we can reform the current available options for stress coping, to better suit the socio-systemic nature of the problem itself. One of the most useful tactics I have encountered comes from the film Default: The Student Loan Documentary and is called "outing yourself" which means exposing the nature of an individuals debt in an effort to rid borrowers of feelings of isolation and helplessness in their debt. This idea is reinforced by Collinge in his book The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History via his establishment of StudentLoanJustice.org.

However, one scholar in particular refutes the idea of stress as a social problem and instead proposes the continued individuation of stress. In their article The Consequences of Financial Stress for Individuals, Families and Societies, authors Davis and Manter cite the importance of a sense of personal mastery, or the belief that one can manage stressful situations, in coping with stress. However, the modifier "personal" in this terms helps us understand that this is a continued form of individual support, and refuses to acknowledge the socio-systemic nature of the stress concept. While some scholars argue that stress needs to be solved through it's societal roots, Davis and Manter argue that a strong sense of personal mastery is important in gaining immediate control of the stress problem for individuals, as oppossed to waiting for a successful social movement to overrun loan institutions.