Sen Martin: Student Debt Hurts the Economy

Sen. Larry Martin believes the debt many students leave college with is harmful not only to themselves, but to economic growth as a whole.

He spoke on the subject at a recent Pickens Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Martin said he knows firsthand about the rising cost of college and the burden it puts on parents and students.

“I've been paying college tuition since 2004,” Martin said. “I've got three more semesters to go. We've been very, very fortunate to have put some money aside, to drive a car as long (as you can), the different kind of things that you do so you can pay that tuition. But guess what? There's a lot of kids out there that don't have that, and won't graduate from Clemson, won't graduate from Carolina, with less than $50,000 or $70,000 in debt.”

That debt burden will follow students as they get that first post-college job and beyond, Martin said.

“They start having to pay $300, $400, $500 a month on a student loan,” he said. “How are they going to buy a house? How are they going to do much of anything for awhile? That retards your economic growth because they're not spending money and keeping the homebuilders and various parts of our economy moving – they're mired in student debt.

“It's not just South Carolina,” Martin said. “This is happening all across the country.”

One chamber member said he believed colleges and universities often “push debt onto students … without a lot of thought behind it.”

Martin said one of his children had a roommate from North Carolina who was forced to return to her home state because out-of-state tuition costs were simply too high.

“She came down here for one year and went back to North Carolina,” he said. “We've got to have an educated workforce. Whether it's a technical college, career-type graduate or a college graduate, it's going to take one or the other going forward – there are going to be very few jobs for just a plain high school graduate. The point is, how costly do we want that to be for our young people? Because the average folks out here just don't save that kind of money to pay (for college.) We're talking mega-bucks , relatively speaking. It's going to really harm economic growth if we don't do something about it.”