An effort is under way on campuses to cut down on college debt.
Student Debt Alert -- a campaign run by a grassroots lobbying organization -- is attempting to influence national policies to reduce students' financial burden upon graduation.
"This is an educational campaign to let elected officials know that students are having an extremely tough time paying for school, and that loan companies are ripping off students," said Leighanne Cole, who works for Student Public Interest Research Groups, which is heading the project.
At Penn, the movement is going strong, leaders say.
According to Cole, the organization forms task forces composed of student leaders, teachers and administrators to examine higher-education financial issues and make recommendations to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.
Cole believes that federal officials could use a wakeup call.
"It has been a while since most of our decision makers have been in college, so it is outside of their [recent] experiences, and most of them have probably forgotten about it," she said.
And students involved in the movement at Penn agree.
"As a student at Penn, I am concerned about the budget cuts to higher education because students will simply not be able to afford tuition if we do not take action," College senior and Penn PIRG member Sheri Halpern said. "Penn students are too often apathetic about policy issues that affect them directly."
Cole added that the average debt for college students is about $20,000 upon graduation and that many students are held back in their careers due to this burden.
But while some see this as a pressing issue, Tom Joyce, a spokesman for Sallie Mae -- one of the leading student loan companies in the country -- not only believes that debt is not a significant problem, but that this campaign could do more harm than good.
"Everyone is concerned about this issue ... and no one wants students to get too much in debt. But everyone wins -- including loan companies, students and taxpayers -- when students leave school and repay their loans," Joyce said.
He added that the average college graduate earns over $1 million more than someone with only a high-school degree over a lifetime and that it is important for students to sit down with a financial adviser and see how much they can afford to pay for school.
"The payoff [of college] is the best investment of a lifetime," Joyce said.
Student Debt Alert, which was launched in October, has added a "Student Debt Yearbook" to its Web site to promote awareness of issues related to debt.
The yearbook consists of pictures of students from various campuses with responses to questions such as how much debt they expect to have at graduation.
Penn Director for Student Financial Aid William Schilling believes that the campaign may be effective in the long term.
"It is important to keep public officials aware of these problems," Schilling added.
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