The Etownian >> News
Debt, economy curb lax spending habits
Thursday November 06 2008
Jenna Schirmer, an occupational therapy graduate student at Elizabethtown College, expressed her concerns and fears about facing the harsh economic situation in which the U.S. now finds itself. Dealing with everyday spending is a regular challenge for Schirmer, who has one more semester at Etown before she is ready to graduate and enter the work force.
Looming debt is a scary storm that no college student seems ready to weather, especially in times like these.
“I don’t feel as much freedom,” Schirmer said. “I’m always worried about my checking account and savings account and what the balance is. I try to work as many hours as I can, which puts more strain on me. It’s just overall much more difficult.”
Schirmer’s fears reflect the common feeling among college students as they struggle with day-to-day spending and trying to remain full-time students during the rough economic times of the nation.
But will college students rethink and reshape their spending habits to fit the current financial crisis?
According to Schirmer, she has already reshaped her spending habits.
“I need a new pair of shoes,” she said. “I would have normally gone out and bought them before the season started, but because money is so tight I either have to wait for sales or my birthday or Christmas to be given them.”
Schirmer also had another spending tip.
“I’ve heard from several people that the generic brand is the same product, just in a different box, so I have always bought the generic brand,” she said. “I actually calculated it one time, and I saved over $7 just by buying the generic brand.”
But the real strain on Schirmer is the impending loan debt she accumulated this year alone.
Since Schirmer is a grad student, she no longer receives funding from the state. Her school loans had to double this year to make up for the loss of state funding.
“It’s not very encouraging,” she said.
Like many other students, especially seniors who are approaching graduation, her post-graduation plans have changed to accommodate the current economic status.
After graduation, Schirmer wanted to get a job with a great salary, in an ideal location. Now she has to look at other options, like companies with loan payback plans. These sorts of companies pay back student loans after you work for them for a certain period of time.
“Instead of just looking at what raw salary I would get, I have to take into consideration the loan payment plans or benefits [companies] might have,” Schirmer said.
The status of our economy isn’t just hitting college students hard, but everyone in general.
“Every institution in our society, every family in our society, is feeling the effects of this disruption in our economy and in our markets. The whole world is feeling it, in fact,” President Theodore Long said at the financial forum he held on Oct. 29.
“You know that book, ‘Things Fall Apart?’ Well, it seemed like that,” Long said in describing the national economic status. “There’s another book by Salman Rushdie called ‘The Ground Beneath Her Feet.’ And it’s all about how the ground shifts beneath your feet when you’re between cultures. And that’s how it is feeling to all of us. The ground is just changing underneath our feet.”
Long went on to say, “This circumstance is unprecedented in our lifetime — and it is a circumstance that’s affecting everybody.”
The Great Depression of the 1930s was a time of immense economic pain and suffering. Although we have not reached that level of destitution, current times are reminiscent of those financial hardships. The crisis has most people concerned about the future.
“The economy has really put everybody in a really hard place,” Schirmer said. “Even my parents are feeling the deficits, but I think as students, we really are in a tight squeeze because we’re in school, we can’t have a full-time job, and at the jobs that we do have, we can’t make lots of money ... we’re trying to support ourselves. Everything is just a lot tighter. People can’t spend what they used to.”
The Etownian >> News