College students are drowning in debt, UB student tells U.S. Senate finance

Jennifer Long, a fourth-year dental student from Binghamton, said the prospect of high indebtedness for 10-25 years after graduation is negatively impacting on whether some individuals are going to college and the post-graduation career choices of those who are in college.

Her testimony-in which she asked Congress to "intervene to assist students and their families"-was endorsed by 44 national student and professional organizations. She asked that Congress consider a student-loan interest-deduction provision in any tax legislation being considered this year. An above-the-line deduction is one taken before taxes when filing an income-tax return.

A graduate of Binghamton University, Long said she will be paying $1,100 per month on her student loans when she graduates from the UB School of Dental Medicine next month. In her first year of repayment, she added, she will pay approximately $7,500 in interest on her loans. "Despite my efforts to save money and work hard, I am facing a mountain of debt," she told the committee. "Upon graduation from my endeavor to become a dentist, I will owe $90,000."

Long said she estimates that monthly payment of her student loans will "eat up 40 percent of my take-home pay. If the student-loan interest deduction is passed this Congress, I would expect to save between $1,500 and $2,000 in taxes in the first year of loan repayment. This savings could equal over six-month's worth of grocery bills and a year of utility bills.

"My circumstances," Long told the committee, "are strikingly similar to students all across the United States who also have worked hard to earn an education and face debts that are equivalent to a home mortgage when they graduate.

"Like many others, I have this student-loan debt burden to deal with before even thinking about the next generation. I ask myself, how can I save for my children's education when I marry-in June-and start a family when I already face a mountain of debt from my own educational endeavors?"

She noted that "a student-loan interest deduction would be especially important for heavily indebted students like myself in the early years after graduation when earnings are low and interest makes up a greater portion of loan repayment."

Long was selected to testify before the committee not only because of her debt, but because she chairs the American Association of Dental Schools' Council of Students. She said Sen. William Roth, R-Del., chair of the committee, was particularly interested in finding out what impact the prospect of accumulating a huge debt has on a student's decision to attend graduate school.

Evidence on that issue is anecdotal at this point, Long noted in her testimony, but she reported on a study conducted by the Educational Testing Service at the high-school level, the results of which showed that high-school seniors concerned about borrowing for college were more likely to delay college, choose lower-priced schools or not go at all.

Long said she came away from the meeting feeling that the committee looks favorably on the tax-break proposal.

She told the committee she will be the first person in her family to receive a professional degree."I grew up in a single-parent home with a deaf parent on disability. Because I am from a family of limited means, I faced the cost of college alone.

"I shopped around for the best education I could afford and consequently chose to attend lower-cost, state-supported institutionsŠ." She said the cost for her attending UB's dental school will amount to $88,742.

Long said that a student-loan interest deduction "would be a critical step the government could take to assist individuals with high student-loan debt. This would especially help low- and middle-income families who have to borrow to finance higher education. Low-income and minority students are two groups which would especially benefit from the student-loan interest deduction."