Guest Columnist

Imagine, just graduating with the degree of your choice, you land your first job only to find out that you cannot afford to purchase a home, get married and start a family, or even buy a new car.

Sound implausible? It is becoming a reality to more and more college students.

Student loan debt is fast becoming one of the single most important "quality of life" issues faced by college graduates. Today, more than 40 percent of college graduates with student loans reported delaying the purchase of a home (up from 25 percent in 1991) because of the burden of student loan debt. Another 22 percent stated they delayed having children (up from 12 percent in 1991) and 15% said the repayment of student loans caused them to delay getting married.

The trap most students fall into is the ease and necessity of loans to get through college. Sixty percent of college students finance part of their education with various loans.

This student loan debt is made worse through the use of credit cards to augment living expenses while in school.

According to Nellie Mae, the largest nonprofit provider of federal and private education loans, the average undergraduate student loan applicant has a credit card balance of $2,226; for graduate students the balance is $5,800 and climbing.

As bad as the credit card debt looks, student loan totals are even worse. The average undergraduate student's burden is $12,200; for graduate students it is $31,200 and for professional students a staggering $50,000!

What does this mean in terms of repayment schedules? While there are a myriad of factors that go into calculating repayment schedules, lets examine the cost of two different repayment options for a hypothetical couple.

John, who completed an undergraduate degree, has accumulated $10,000 in loan debt and his wife Jane, has accumulated $59,000 in loans to complete law school.

Using the "Standard Repayment Option," John and Jane's initial monthly payment will be $121 and $716 respectfully. They will make payments for 10 years and pay back a total of $14,560 in John's case and $85,900 for Jane. If a combined loan payment of $837 seems a tad harsh, let us look at a second payment option.

The "Income Sensitive Option" lowers monthly payments by spreading the payments out over a longer period of time. Using the same debt load, John can lower his initial monthly payment to $77 and Jane's initial payment would be $393 paid over 25 years. When John has paid off his loan he will have sent the lender a total of $17,781 and Jane will have invested $142,040 to repay her loan. This is a total of nearly $160,000 to pay for $69,000 worth of loans.

What can you do to avoid this type of problem?

Try to avoid student loans. If that is not practical, educate yourself on student loans.

Understand what types of loans are available and which one is best for you. Learn how to protect yourself from damaging or destroying your credit rating.

Your first step is an easy one. Attend a presentation by Anne Stockwell, author of The Guerrilla Guide to Mastering Student Loan Debt, who will be speaking at noon in TUC, Room 414 on this topic.

The average UC undergrad spends 5 years (many proceed to graduate school) preparing for their professional futures. Why not invest 60 minutes in your financial future?

Craig T. Cobane is a PhD. candidate in political science and president of the Graduate Student Governance Association.