The
New York Times continued and old media theme of complaining about the
volume of student debt on May 13 with its front page story: “A
Generation Hobbled by College Debt.”
Times
writers Andrew Martin and Andrew W. Lehren began the 4,647-word essay
about the problem of growing student debt began with the extreme example
of one girl who is graduating $120,000 in debt.
Kelsey
Griffith is just graduating from Ohio Northern University with that
massive financial burden and, based on media coverage of the student
loan crisis, her situation might not seem that unusual.
After
all, the Times itself wrote “With more than $1 trillion in student
loans outstanding in this country, crippling debt is no longer confined to dropouts from for-profit colleges or graduate students who owe
on many years of education, some of the overextended debtors in years
past. Now nearly everyone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is borrowing.”
But
when you actually look at the data provided by the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York (data included after the jump to page 20 of the Times) it
becomes clear that Griffith is part of a small minority. Only 3 percent
of students have taken out more than $100,000 in debt.
“For
all borrowers, the average debt in 2011 was $23,300, with 10 percent
owing more than $54,000 and 3 percent more than $100,000,” the Times
wrote. So the average student debt is roughly the cost of a car, with
potentially lower interest rates and longer payoff time.
The
Times was not alone in using extreme debtors as the victims in its
student loan stories. The Detroit Free Press recently wrote that
“Students lament debt as loan battle gains steam in Congress.” They
started things off with a similar student “victim,” saying, “Sean Doerr,
like thousands of college graduates this spring, is trapped between a
rock and a hard place. To get a good job, he knew he needed a college
degree. But getting it cost the 22-year-old Detroiter dearly. He
graduated Thursday from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit with
more than $85,000 in debt.”
Then the Free Press attempted to make that seem a normal amount of college debt by claiming, “He's
far from alone: Millions of Americans now owe more for student loans
than credit cards. The loans can top $100,000 — even $200,000 — and
often translate into payments of more than $1,000 a month.” [1]
[1]
The
Free Press reported that the average debt was over $25,000 using 2010
figures from a different source: the Project on Student Debt.
Some
in Washington are clamoring to price fix the student loan market.
“Obama has been hammering on the need to hold down college costs and for
Congress to pass a law preventing federally backed loans from doubling
their interest rates. Romney has echoed the same concerns, differing
only on the federal government's role,” the Free Press wrote.
Some
Occupy protesters want the government to just force taxpayers to pay
off their student loans, or call for a free college education.
The media used to claim the problem with student loans were the banks, but they can’t argue that anymore since Obama took over the student loan industry [2] in March 2010. Rarely do they examine how federal subsidies for college education have distorted the education market and led to rapidly rising tuition [3].
What hasn’t changed in reporting on student debt (and other forms of
debt) is that the media generally side with borrowers rather than
lenders.
The Business & Media Institute analyzed coverage of debt in 2006 and 2007 and found that 62 percent of network stories ignored the consumer’s responsibility for debt [4]
and just as many portrayed borrowers as victims. Lenders and related
companies were blamed for borrowers’ debt troubles six times as often as
borrowers.
