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Student Debt

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Preparation Notes

Article: “Student Debt: Is the College-loan System Fair?” By Marcia Clemmitt

1. Evaluate the credibility. Please be specific. I felt like this article was fairly credible, because of its structure & length, publisher, and depth of research that went into writing it. Furthermore, the article looks at and discusses both sides of the argument, even featuring an entire yes/no column written by two outside sources discussing the topic of student loan debt. For the most part, articles which examine both sides of the equation are going to be more fair and fact checked, simply because both parties will be represented and won’t want to be misinterpreted or misunderstood.

2. Briefly summarize.

For the most part, the article discusses what you think it would – the current state of the college-loan system in the country, as well as arguments from proponents/detractors of said system. Many people are attending college in the hopes of landing higher paying jobs, and ending up in debt with a career they could have attained without a college degree.

3. List problems & solutions for student debt. (You may wish to match them.)

One of the biggest problems I thought they discussed in the article was the issue I just mentioned – People are coming out of college weighed down in overwhelming debt and entering into jobs with little to no college prerequisite, essentially making the debt they accrued worthless. A possible solution (which was brought up in the article) would be to completely wipe the slate on student loan debt, and forgive those who either cannot pay, or would do much better without the thought of hundreds o thousands of dollars in debt hanging over their heads.

4. Note connections to other articles.

This article was kind of a ‘completed’ version of the other two articles, in the way that this one discussed

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