Los Angeles California. – Access to higher education sometimes it becomes a maze with no way out. Rising tuition and low wages make students more dependent on student loans and carry huge debts that in many cases take decades to pay off.
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“It is a black cloud that I have that follows me, that does not let me sleep sometimes”, assures Jose Quintero, a young Mexican-American who earned a master’s degree in University of La Verne four years ago.
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“I graduated with 80 thousand dollars in debt “Quintero said about the weight on his back. And you are not alone. Each year more Latino youth graduate from colleges in California and across the country, and nearly 72% of them do so with loans.
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“College loans are one of the largest types of loans here in America. There are 1.7 billion in student debt here with 44 million people being affected“Says Pamela Martínez, a finance expert at Snowball Wealth.
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Rocio Ortega He grew up in East Los Angeles and is in his final year of master’s degree at the Georgetown University and is the daughter of migrant parents. “And after three years of working full time and doing the master’s degree part time, there are already $ 50,000,” said Ortega.
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The money loaned by the federal government for many young Latinos is the only way to achieve their college dreams. “It is very easy to get them out, but very difficult to understand how to pay them”says Ortega.
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In most cases, parents don’t have the budget to help them. “I think I would die of shame asking them for money that I know they used to pay the rent, for the bills, for my brothers,” says Quintero about the situation in his family.
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“I didn’t tell my parents much about the loans because I didn’t want them to worry about me,” Ortega said.
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The situation gets so uphill that many are forced to put their dreams on hold, preventing them from achieving other goals.
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“Right now the average is 20 years that one takes to pay (the debts),” said financial expert Martínez.
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Ortega says that “it is a very heavy feeling on my shoulders because I kind of have been on pause.” For his part, Quintero assures that “one remains stagnant, one says’ I’m making my payments, I’ve been working since I left my master’s degree,” but dreams of ending the debt are increasingly difficult because in recent months “It was hard because they let me go from work so I lost my biggest income. I see myself in a tunnel and I don’t see the light ”.
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The coronavirus pandemic has increased these economic challenges. A survey conducted by Student Debt Crises found that one in three Latinos with student debt had their work hours reduced in the past year and one in five lost their job.
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