USA Today Hypes Student Debt Loads

Ken Shepherd

June 12, 2006 - 2:00pm

USA Today Hypes Student Debt Loads
Paper features grad student with more than double the average debt load of his peers.

By Ken Shepherd
Business & Media Institute
June 12, 2006

     As graduation season wound down, the June 12 USA Today alarmed readers with a look at the growing number of college grads who owe more than $100,000 in student loans. But even the articles author briefly conceded thats the exception, not the rule.

     The average college senior graduated this year with more than $19,000 in debt. Thats a problem Joe Palazzolo would love to have, correspondent Sandra Block [1] began her front-page story. Palazzolo, she continued, finished a graduate degree in public policy from Rutgers and now has more than $116,000 in student loans.

     In fact, the Rutgers alumnus owes more than twice what the average student in his situation would owe. According to the 2002 National Student Loan Survey by loan provider Nellie Mae [2], college undergrads borrowed an average of $18,900 while graduate students borrowed an additional $31,700. Added together, the $50,600 total is less than half of what Palazzolo owes.

     I feel like Ive done everything I was supposed to do, the public policy student complained to USA Today, asking, What did I do wrong?

     Block didnt say where Palazzolo earned his undergraduate degree, nor did she mention ways the 25-year-old graduate could have held down his debt by working a few years after college or attending less expensive institutions. Instead, the reporter focused only on the prescriptions of interest groups that call for more federal regulation of student loans, such as Ralph Naders Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) and the liberal Project on Student Debt.

     Whats more, Block left out how graduate degrees help earning potential and employment prospects. According to a 2003 survey by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) [3], masters degree holders have an unemployment rate of only 3.3 percent and earn a median weekly salary of $1,064, or more than $55,000 a year. Thats 18 percent more than Americans who earned just a bachelors degree.

     The Business & Media Institute [4]has repeatedly documented [5] the medias biases on student loans, including a focus [6]on debt loads over strong job opportunities.

Publication: News [7]

Division: MRC Business [8]

Tags: Employment [9], jobs [10], softdrink [11], Soda [12], Labor [13], Union [14], WallStreetJournal [15], AlGore [16], CurrentTV [17], Smoking [18], economy [19], GasHysteria [20], Drugs [21], autism [22], HousingBubble [23], oil [24], gas [25], RecordPrice [26], Kyoto [27], FannieMae [28], Advisors [29], USAToday [30], NewYorkTimes [31], WashingtonPost [32], CSPI [33], consumerconfidence [34], Insourcing [35], outsourcing [36], China [37], LouDobbs [38], TradeSecrets [39], Live8 [40], BalanceSheet [41], SupersizedBias [42], MediaMalpractice [43], personalaccounts [44], GasPrices [45], biasedaccounts [46], MorganSpurlock [47], obesity [48], Mercury [49], Tax&Spin [50], FairTax [51], Wal-Mart [52], FX [53], DiscoveryChannel [54], NBC [55], abc [56], cbs [57], SocialSecurity [58], runawaylitigation [59], GlobalWarming [60], ClimateChange [61], CharlesSimpson [62], AmyMenefee [63], DanGainor [64], HermanCain [65], news [66], MediaRealityCheck [67], FreeMarket [68], videos [69], taxes [70], newsbias [71], networknews [72], mediawatchdog [73], lbrentbozell [74], bozell [75], BrentBozell [76], LiberalBias [77], MediaResearchCenter [78], Cyberalert [79], MediaBias [80], bias [81], media [82], conservative [83], BusinessandMediaInstitute [84]

Links:
[1] http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2006-06-11-debt-cover-usat_x.htm
[2] http://www.nelliemae.com/library/research_10.html
[3] http://www.bls.gov/emp/emptab7.htm
[4] http://www.businessandmedia.org/news/2006/news20060215b.asp
[5] http://www.businessandmedia.org/news/2005/news20050627d.asp
[6] http://www.businessandmedia.org/news/2006/news20060517b.asp
[7] http://archive2.mrc.org/news
[8] http://archive2.mrc.org/division/mrc-business
[9] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/employment
[10] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/jobs
[11] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/softdrink
[12] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/soda
[13] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/labor
[14] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/union
[15] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/wallstreetjournal
[16] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/algore-0
[17] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/currenttv
[18] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/smoking
[19] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/economy
[20] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gashysteria
[21] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/drugs
[22] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/autism
[23] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/housingbubble
[24] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/oil
[25] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gas
[26] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/recordprice
[27] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/kyoto
[28] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fanniemae
[29] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/advisors
[30] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/usatoday
[31] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/newyorktimes
[32] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/washingtonpost
[33] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cspi
[34] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/consumerconfidence-0
[35] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/insourcing
[36] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/outsourcing
[37] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/china
[38] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/loudobbs
[39] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/tradesecrets
[40] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/live8
[41] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/balancesheet
[42] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/supersizedbias
[43] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediamalpractice
[44] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/personalaccounts
[45] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gasprices
[46] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/biasedaccounts
[47] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/morganspurlock
[48] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/obesity
[49] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mercury
[50] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/taxspin
[51] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fairtax
[52] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/wal-mart
[53] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fx
[54] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/discoverychannel
[55] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/nbc
[56] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/abc
[57] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cbs
[58] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/socialsecurity
[59] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/runawaylitigation
[60] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/globalwarming
[61] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/climatechange
[62] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/charlessimpson
[63] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/amymenefee
[64] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/dangainor
[65] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/hermancain
[66] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/news
[67] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediarealitycheck
[68] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/freemarket
[69] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/videos
[70] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/taxes
[71] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/newsbias
[72] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/networknews
[73] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediawatchdog
[74] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/lbrentbozell-0
[75] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/bozell
[76] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/brentbozell
[77] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/liberalbias-0
[78] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediaresearchcenter
[79] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cyberalert
[80] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediabias
[81] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/bias
[82] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/media
[83] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/conservative
[84] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/businessandmediainstitute-0
[85] http://www.tellthetruth2012.org