South Dakota education officials say the cost of a college education is increasing and graduates across the state are ending up with an average of 25-thousand dollars in student loans.
Paul Turman is the Chief Academic Affairs Officer for the South Dakota Board of Regents. He says students and their families should not be adverse to taking out loans – instead he says applicants should plan ahead and be smart about borrowing money.
“So making wise decisions about how you’re spending the dollars that you have eligible to borrow is important. Don’t be frivolous, take out just exactly what you need to get by in any given semester to cover your cost of tuition and books and the rest. Utilizing funds from work either during school or during the summer are ways that students help keep that amount low. But 25-thousand dollars is the price of an average car that most people pay off in four to five years so the return on investment that students are going to get for that is going to get is much, much higher,” says Turman.
Turman says federal student loan pay-back requirements are changing to meet the needs of college grads and some have moved from a set monthly payment to an income based repayment structure.