For any student, choosing where to go to college is a big decision. I sat down with my family and friends for hours, talking about a potential school’s size, location, academic programs and the biggest deciding factor: cost.
I ultimately decided to attend the University of Maine in Orono, because I wanted to stay in Maine to earn a great education at a reasonable cost.
There is no doubt that college is considered to be expensive anywhere you go, but the state of Maine ranks seventh for highest student loan debt, and America’s student loan debt already exceeds the total of all credit card debt.
I personally heard many of my fellow classmates in high school say they were unsure about attending college because of the “horror stories” they have heard about college graduates being buried in student loan debt. These horror stories are not rare occurrences people make up to scare you; they are real. Even with a college degree, the student debt still hangs over our heads well after graduation while we are searching for affordable housing, paying for health care and establishing our careers.
Despite the awareness of this issue in the public and political eye, Maine’s newly elected congressman, Bruce Poliquin, recently voted for a budget that would freeze the maximum amount of Pell Grant funding each low-income student can receive for 10 years. This is a program that gives many of the country’s poorest students the opportunity to attend college, including me and many of my friends and acquaintances. In just this year alone, college students in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District will receive $28 million in Pell Grant funding. That aid goes a long way to ensuring kids get the education they need to succeed later in life.
For college students like me, it is a betrayal that Poliquin voted to freeze — or effectively cut — funding that keeps many college students afloat.
Some students have the luxury of not having to work during the school year, but others, like me and a handful of my peers, must work and go to school. I have an off-campus job where I work about 20 to 30 hours per week. The majority of what I make goes straight to UMaine.
To me this is a vicious cycle: the more a student has to work during the school year, the more likely he or she is to have unsatisfactory grades, which can thus jeopardize opportunities for more grants and scholarships. Being forced to work more hours than a college student should is physically draining, and causes financial and academic stress.
I will give you a recent and personal example; about a month ago I did not know how I was going to pay the roughly $6,000 bill I owed to the university. I panicked and was afraid I wouldn’t be able to return to UMaine next semester. Luckily, an associate in the Bursar’s Office pointed out I had not yet accepted certain student aid packages, given to me by FAFSA, online. Luckily, this covered most of that $6,000 I owed, and I was able to pay the remaining couple hundred dollars in small increments.
If it weren’t for student loans and grants like Pell that Poliquin voted to freeze many students like me would not be able to attend college. To conclude, one of the key messages I want to give is college affordability is neither a left-wing, nor right-wing issue; it is an American issue. Poliquin doesn’t seem to get that.
Maine’s 2nd Congressional District deserves a representative who understands the cost of tuition shouldn’t be the deciding factor for whether a student can attend college. This is a crucial issue that must be fixed. Too many students across Maine and across the country cannot achieve their full potential while they are held back by the fear of student loan debt and college affordability.
Samantha Morse grew up in Peru, Maine. She’s a graduate of Dirigo High School, a third-year political science major at the University of Maine and communications director for the UMaine College Democrats.