MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- With one one-in-five Tennesseans with student debt now defaulting on those loans, a seminar at Middle Tennessee State is set to answer the question: Is a college education worth the cost?
The list of topics to be addressed grew out of discussions Dr. Meredith Dye had with one of her sociology classes. She says her students expressed concerns about their ability to make enough money post-graduation to both live on and pay back academic loans.
Dye says her students also explored whether they were borrowing more than was really necessary.
“The idea that students were borrowing money that they didn’t need. I mean it wasn’t just for college, but included in paying for college was, you know, to ‘pay for my car payment,’ or to ‘pay for all of my living expenses to live comfortably’ and students saw that as problematic.”
Dr. Dye says another topic to be addressed is whether students have a realistic expectations about how much money they will likely earn in their chosen fields.
Dr. Joel Best will give the keynote speech on Friday, discussing his new book “The Student Loan Mess: How We Got Here and Why It’s Not Going Away.”
The seminar begins Wednesday in the James Union building on the MTSU campus and is free and open to the public.