HOW WE SEE IT: Students In Middle Squeezed

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — The University of Arkansas opened the fall semester with a record enrollment of 24,595 students - a 6 percent increase over fall enrollment a year ago.

More encouraging is the statistic within the statistic: The freshman class of 4,580 students is only 118 more than last year’s. That’s a 2.6 percent increase. That means continuing students are making up much of the growth at the UA.

That’s what we want to see - not just more students enrolling, but more students staying enrolled and, we hope, graduating.

There’s a flip side to this good news: The longer students stay in school, the longer they are racking up debt.

As a recent study shows, middle-class students generally accumulate more debt than peers who come from poorer or richer families.

Jason Houle, a scholar from the University of Wisconsin who conducted the study, said students from lower-income backgrounds are more likely to qualify for student aid packages, while students from higher-income families can afford to pay more of the college costs as they go.

That leaves many middle-class students relying on loans to pay for their college education. Houle refers to this as the “middle income squeeze.”

About 41 percent of all students left school with some student loan debt, and the average debt among them was $22,000, according to the study.

This is why it’s important to note whenever the University or NorthWest Arkansas Community College passes another tuition increase. Both institutions raised tuition earlier this year. Pressure should be applied to the administrations of both schools to keep tuition reasonable.

The cost of going to college has tripled since 1980, and it’s only going up. That cost is a barrier to some who otherwise have the desire and the brains to get a college degree. That’s a shame.

Figuring out a way to pay for college is, for some students, as challenging as any calculus class.

Learning all the finance options, from loans to the various scholarships available, is an important part of the college exploration process.

There’s no doubt a college degree has value, but in this economy, the degree still doesn’t guarantee a job that will help pay off a student’s debt - thus the frustration so many graduates feel.

Best of luck to all college students in our area - not only in their classes, but in paying for them.