Thanks to Bob Shireman and Edie Irons of the Project on Student Debt for a great event at the UC Berkeley School of Journalism last night, and thanks to Analog Books of Berkeley too! In a highlight, Nancy Coolidge, who coordinates financial aid for the whole UC system, spoke about her success in getting 80 percent of Berkeley students to consolidate their loans last spring to lock in low rates, and the importance of spreading the word far and wide before this July 1--this may be your last chance to get a low, fixed rate.
There definitely need to be better channels to get information out about negotiating the financial aid system *before* people take on debt. I am thinking about going around to high schools now as well. Knowledge truly is power.
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Thanks to you, Anya! It was fun for us to have you, and I think the event brought some good publicity to the issue on campus.
I think going to high schools is a great idea. If you reach people there, you can save them a lot of trouble later on, and that's where the myths about the wage premium, and unqualified advice like, "don't worry about it, just borrow as much as you can and follow your dreams" get into peoples' heads. You don't need to go dashing their hopes, but I it would be useful to get more practical, realistic advice to high school kids.
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