By DEREK FAY
The BYU Financial Aid Office has designed a program to help students finance their education so they don't drown in debt upon finishing college, said Paul Conrad, the office's assistant director.
Conrad said student loans are increasingly easier to get, while grants and scholarships are harder to qualify for. Unfortunately, some students don't plan for the financial burden of paying back student loans, which can make living their dreams become a nightmare when they graduate.
'This is one of the biggest financial mountains you're ever going to climb, but people show up without any climbing gear; ... they show up without any preparation,' Conrad said.
'Creating a Financial Path to Graduation' is a program designed to help students understand how to intelligently finance their education by taking them through their options.
'I think we're seeing a niche here that nobody is really addressing,' Conrad said.
The program will be fully implemented this year by being distributed to high school juniors and seniors. However, Conrad said he is already introducing the program to students who come through his office.
The first step of the plan is to create an academic map, which allows students to see how quickly they can graduate.
Other steps include estimating a student's costs and resources and deciding how to compensate for the difference between the two.
The final steps include establishing a reasonable debt-limit and identifying the cost of borrowing.
'The problem with student loans is there isn't a lot of coordination between career choice and loan amounts,' Conrad said. 'If you want to do piano performance or want to be a humanities major, that's fantastic -- there is a lot of important scholarship in those areas. However, you simply shouldn't be somebody who is $50,000 in debt if you're a humanities major.'
Amanda and Tahari Julander are two students who have already borrowed nearly $10,000 in student loans. They said although they don't wish to borrow more, they are optimistic about their ability to pay off their loans.
'It's an investment,' Amanda said.
Taking out student loans is not a bad thing and is often necessary to complete a college education, Conrad said. It can be financially dangerous, however, if not studied closely.
An undergraduate can borrow up to $23,000 in subsidized student loans and up to $23,000 in unsubsidized student loans, which can create problems for some students.
'There's always the possibility that someone is going to think; 'They must think I can handle this much or they wouldn't let me borrow it,'' Conrad said.
The average debt for students with loans at BYU is about $10,000 for an undergraduate degree, although some students manage to complete college debt-free, Conrad said.
The average student debt for a post-graduate degree at BYU is around $18,000.
'Not everybody has this kind of debt right now, but those are the averages,' Conrad said.
He said the numbers shouldn't scare people away from college because it's not necessary to get into that kind of debt if all the student's options are exercised properly.