Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal | July 26, 2021 | wbjournal.com IMAGE/ADOBE STOCK T he second Quinsigamond Community College President Luis Pedraja learned the Worcester school would be receiving $9 million in institutional aid from the federal CARES Act funding, he wanted to use a portion of the relief to forgive student debt for students enrolled during the pandemic. In tackling student debt forgiveness directly, Pedraja and his team effectively took a contentious debate – what to do with the country's $1.73 trillion in student debt, as reported by the Federal Reserve – into their own hands. It's a small piece of a much larger challenge up for debate on the state and national levels, as the unprecedented amount of education debt held by U.S. borrowers has exceeded national credit card debt. e money at QCC – including $9 million to be spent directly on student aid, plus the $9 million allotted for institutional support – was distributed to the college in May, and on June 9, QCC announced it would use $2.5 million to forgive student debt held by the college. "To me it was important to remove as many barriers from students [as possible]," Pedraja said. "A lot of the students were impacted significantly by the pandemic and most of that impact had some financial bearings." Pedraja said the decision was as much an investment in the community as it was an investment in QCC's students, many of whom faced employment challenges, are single parents, or serve as the lead financial provider for their families. Although most people think of undergraduate students as fresh high school graduates living in dorms, Pedraja said, the average age of QCC's students is 25. "ey're veterans. ey're older adults that are trying to reinvent their lives," Pedraja said. Massachusetts, by the numbers Arguments against student debt forgiveness are almost as many as arguments in favor. A national debate with local implications, those against it argue forgiving debt would disincentivize schools to lower costs, reduce individual accountability, and, in the case of forgiving government-held debt, throw public budgets into disarray. Proponents say the student debt crisis has gotten out of hand and eliminating or reducing student debt would put more money into the hands of consumers, boosting the economy and making education more attainable. ey take issue with an economic-cultural structure requiring a college education for higher-paying, advanced jobs. What is indisputable is American student borrowers are in more debt than they've ever been in history. In 2006, the earliest year in which the Federal Reserve reported the number, Americans held a collective $481 billion in student debt. As of the beginning of 2021, that figure sat at $1.7 trillion. In Mass., the average student borrower is indebted $34,100, according to research group EducationData.org, as 12.4% of the state's residents have student debt, with Mass. holding a collective $29.2 billion in student debt. ese figures mirror national ones. Shrinking these numbers is not as straightforward as popular talking points. While lower income students may have historically been advised to consider public schools in an attempt to reduce the costs of their education, in Mass., such a distinction may now be futile. According to a 2018 report from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, the amount of debt students incur at public colleges and universities is almost equal to the amount of debt incurred by graduates of private schools. e report found while in 2004 both public and private college graduates in Mass. held student debt in comparative numbers, by 2016, the amount of private school graduates who held debt had decreased from 60% to 54%. e amount of public school graduates who F O C U S I N N O V A T I O N & H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N BY MONICA BENEVIDES Worcester Business Journal Senior Staff Writer A $1.7-trillion problem Student loan debt is burdening Central Mass. graduates, but finding solvency is complicated Anna Maria College, Paxton 2013-2014 $31,976 $51,934 95% Becker College (closed), Worcester 2012-2013 $28,273 $43,238 94% Worcester Polytechnic Institute 2018-2019 $27,600 N/A N/A Framingham State University 2018-2019 $26,091 $31,465 89% Nichols College, Dudley 2017-2018 $22,993 $34,873 84% Fitchburg State University 2018-2019 $25,048 $26,543 81% Assumption University, Worcester 2013-2014 $26,266 $34,417 81% Dean College, Franklin 2018-2019 $27,709 N/A 78% Worcester State University 2018-2019 $22,465 $30,629 76% Clark University, Worcester 2018-2019 $26,056 $34,390 61% College of the Holy Cross, Worcester 2018-2019 $26,258 $26,258 52% Central Mass. colleges' students debt Most recent Average debt Percent of year data is of graduates in Average debt graduates Institution available federal loans of graduates with debt Source: College Insight, a project of The Institute for College Access & Success

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