As the second child in her family, Megan Montana sometimes feels guilty for going to Syracuse University.

“I apologize constantly for being an expensive child,” said Montana, a senior ceramics major.

Though her family pays less than half of her tuition out of pocket thanks to financial aid, she still has $20,000 in debt from a private loan.

An Oct. 3 Inside Higher Ed survey found that the majority of admissions directors consider a five-figure student debt “acceptable.”

The poll, conducted by Gallup, found that 42 percent of admissions directors find a debt of $20,000 to $30,000 a reasonable amount, and that 17 percent consider $30,000 to $40,000 a standard amount.

The survey gathered responses from admissions officials in three major sectors of higher education: private, public and community colleges.

But SU isn’t willing to accept that students must have significant debt to attend the university. 

Ryan Williams, associate vice president for enrollment management, said SU’s default rates are lower and loan repayment rates are higher than those of similar institutions.

The university allocates about $200 million in financial aid to its students. Some of this money comes from tuition fees, he said.

The university, he said, looks for “pockets of excessive borrowing” among students and works with them to manage potential debt, hoping to reduce the load before graduation.

Williams said the university’s policy is “proactive as opposed to reactive.”

The survey’s results, he said, might reflect that people are too willing to accept how common debt has become in higher education.

“If you start calling debt ‘reasonable,’ you’re not looking at opportunities to mitigate that debt,” Williams said.

SU students were not shocked by the poll’s findings. Many, like Jagjeevanjot Singh, a graduate engineering student, said the results captured the reality of financing their college education.

Singh said he expects $20,000 in debt after graduation — the result of private loans from the State Bank of India.

Bhavesh Sadiwala, a graduate student in information management and friend of Singh’s, took out the same kind of loan for his two-year program at SU, but for $40,000.

Singh said he was attracted to SU due to the alumni presence in companies like Google and Microsoft. For Sadiwala, the allure was the School of Information Studies’ ranking in the United States.

“We’re hoping that it’s worth it,” Sadiwala said. “There’s nothing else we can do.”

But despite the survey results, students are cautiously optimistic.

“I have this unerring and also annoying ability to think everything’s going to be fine,” said Montana, the senior ceramics major.

She described her debt as an investment for job opportunities in the future, making it worthwhile.

“Education is the most important thing,” she said. “You feed your child, you take out loans for your child.”

Published on November 8, 2012 at 2:06 am

Contact Natsumi: najisaka@syr.edu