From the News You Can Use Archives 06/18/07

What High School Counselors Think About Student Financial Aid
By Ian Crawford, Web Communications Editor

High school counselors have a great influence on the decision-making of their students; helping them decide what school to attend and how to finance their further education. A recent study asked for their views on student loans, and while most of them agree that loans help the financially needy they are wary about the level of debt that students need to take on to attend college.

Balancing Acts: How High-School Counselors View Risks and Opportunities of Student Loans by the National Association for College Admission Counseling and the Project on Student Debt, asked counselors what they thought about student debt, how prepared they were to give advice about student loans, and their opinions about students taking out loans.

The key findings include the following:

Widespread Concern about Student Debt

• The vast majority of high school counselors (86 percent) are concerned about the level of debt students are taking on to pay for college.
• Most school counselors (78 percent) say that students’ and parents’ concerns about loan debt affect whether and where students go to college.
• Counselors at schools with a majority of low-income students are much more likely to say that fear of debt “strongly affects” college choices (56 percent) than counselors at schools with fewer low-income students (34 percent).
• Nearly all high school counselors (97 percent) say that students and families need a lot of help making decisions about student loans.

Giving Advice about Student Loans Can be Challenging

• Most high school counselors feel generally prepared to discuss loans with students and families. Eighty percent feel at least “somewhat prepared,” including 25 percent who feel “very prepared.”
• More than half of counselors find it at least “somewhat easy” to answer questions about whether to borrow to pay for college (62 percent), and what happens if the student does not graduate from college (53 percent).
• Three-fourths (76 percent) of counselors find it at least “somewhat hard” to advise students and families about how much they can afford to borrow; and two-thirds say it is hard to answer questions about what type of loan to take (66 percent) and what happens if borrowers cannot pay back their loans (64 percent).

Generally Positive Views of Student Loans, but Concerns about Risks for Low-Income, Less Prepared Students

• Most high school counselors believe student loans are a good investment for a typical student at their school: 83 percent believe loans are at least a “somewhat good” investment, including 37 percent who believe they are a “very good” investment.
• Most counselors (89 percent) say that student loans help low-income students attend college.
• However, more than one-third of counselors (37 percent) believe that low-income students should avoid student loans because of the risks of default.
• Counselors in high schools with a majority of low-income students are much more likely to view loans as at least “somewhat risky” for a typical student at their school (33 percent) than counselors in schools with fewer low-income students (14 percent).
• Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of high school counselors agree that students who are not well-prepared for college should avoid the risk of student loans. Slightly more (79 percent) say students who are well prepared can afford the risk of student loans.

**********

Balancing Acts: How High-School Counselors View Risks and Opportunities of Students Loans - National Association for College Admission Counseling and the Project on Student Debt

**********

Story posted June 18, 2007.

E-mail comments to: news@EDFUND.org

All contents copyright EDFUND, 1999-2006. All rights reserved. All material on this site is intended for the sole use of the individual site visitor and may not be reproduced electronically or in print without written permission from EDFUND, P.O. Box 419045, Rancho Cordova, CA, 95741-9045.

Legal Information | Security and Browser Information
Copyright 1998-2007, EDFUND. All rights reserved.