WUSTL Photo

Professor Murray Weidenbaum, the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of economics said the nation’s precarious economic climate continues to be a major concern, even as the nation’s finances gradually begin to recover.

Weidenbaum, who served as assistant secretary of the treasury from 1969 to 1971 under the Nixon administration, and as chairman of the council of economic advisers from 1981 to 1982 during the Reagan administration, is often considered the architect of Reaganomics.

“This must be the slowest economic recovery in modern times. You have to go back to the 1930s to find a recovery this slow,” he said. “At an annual rate of 2 percent to 3 percent a year…that’s not a strong recovery after a recession.”

While Weidenbaum said most economists agree that the U.S. has successfully averted a double-dip recession and opened the possibility for recovery, he noted there are still major problems to be worked on.

He said that both short- and long-term solutions are necessary to combat the nation’s ever-increasing deficit.

“In the long run, it is clear that we have an unsustainable economy,” Weidenbaum said. “In the short term, there is need for additional stimulus.”

He said the partisanship in American politics is majorly hindering this needed long-term recovery.

“The problem is, there is no common ground between the conservatives and the liberals in this election,” Weidenbaum said. “There seems to be little political pressure to adopt [practical] responses toward the economy.”

Although he served as an economics advisor for two Republican presidents, Weidenbaum does not express his preference over one party or the other.

“As an economist, I can’t say who’s right. It’s a problem of personal values. But any increase in taxes will not stimulate the economy,” he said. “There is no increase in taxes that is going to speed up the economy.”

And he says longterm tax cuts have caused a rift between Democrats and Republicans.

“The so-called Bush tax cuts expire at the end of the year. Both parties believe that most tax cuts should be extended, but there is disagreement over whether people at the top bracket [should keep their tax cuts],“ Weidenbaum said.

According to Wiedenbaum, the economic system needs to undergo an overhaul and special privileges need to be cut out of the tax system.

He has mixed feelings about the Obama administration’s efforts to stimulate the economy.

“It’s an uneven record. I think the large stimulus bill did help, but it’s disillusioning when you read the details of the bill,” he said. “A lot of the spending went to special interests, which diluted the economic recovery.”

But he believes the burst of rapid regulation created in haste will create unexpected problems in the future.

“There are many uncertainties as to what the regulations are going to do,” he said. “I am not sure if we are increasing the amount of uncertainty or not.”

He thinks the regulations will serve as deterrents for American business investments.

“There are hundreds of regulations that have to be addressed under the Dodd-Frank Act, the healthcare reform the environmental regulations and the tax laws,” he said. “There is great caution from the business community on how they should invest.”

Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars rover Curiosity, the centerpiece of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission is pictured here. This image, taken on June 29, 2010, shows Curiosity with its mobility system—wheels and suspension—in place after installation at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Ray Arvidson, a professor in the department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, will be assisting both operationally, to help the new Curiosity rover route the safest path along Martian terrains, as well as scientifically, to study the soils found.

Arvidson was one of 29 individuals selected for the position at the Mars Science Laboratory, out of a total applicant pool of 150. His proposal suggested the rover should be used to observe terramechanics, or study the soil on the planet.

“My role will be to use Curiosity as a virtual instrument to simulate drives across terrains traversed and to be traversed by the rover,” Arvidson wrote in an email to Student Life. “This will help the engineers plan drives that are safe and will also allow me to retrieve soil properties of relevance to understanding Martian geological history.”

Curiosity, which launched Nov. 26 of last year, is scheduled to land on Mars in August. While previous rovers have explored for water, the new mission is geared toward searching for potentially habitable regions of the planet.

Third-year graduate student Abigail Fraeman, who is also involved in the project, said although the rover still has many months before its scheduled landing date, there is much work to be done in order to prepare it.

“This work will be useful for figuring out how best to drive Curiosity, including how to avoid any potential rover sand-traps,” she said. “Unfortunately, you can’t just dig out a rover stuck on Mars, so guiding Curiosity to safe terrains will be incredibly important to ensure the vehicle stays mobile and able to drive to the most interesting targets.”

Planning the rover’s route will involve predicting the surface terrain and how the rover will operate on it. That will mean studying data taken by instruments on satellites orbiting the red planet, as well as the data that will be collected by the rover itself.

Arvidson conducted similar research on both of his previous rover projects—Spirit and Opportunity.

“Our department is well known across the world for Mars research,” Douglas Wiens, chairman of the University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said. “The new project will strengthen our reputation and fund graduate students to carry out their thesis work on Mars.”

Arvidson’s team will be using a computer model of the rover to simulate Curiosity’s actual travels across the surface of the planet. The team will search for the least perilous route for the rover to take across Mars.

The team will also archive the data collected from the rover’s instruments from the department’s NASA Planetary Data System Geosciences Node.

The information will also be released to the public, free of charge.

“The work is important scientifically because it will give us an understanding of the soil properties at Curiosity’s landing site in Gale Crater,” Fraeman said. “It will provide additional insight into the mechanics of driving vehicles on other planets.”

For the class of 2015, the OISS reported that 32 undergraduate students from China accepted admission to the University, up from 29 half a decade ago, bringing the total number of enrolled undergraduate students at the University to 182.

The increase reflects a national pattern, as Chinese undergraduate enrollment at American universities rose by 43 percent last year, according to an Institute of International Education Open Doors report released in November.

While the international student population at Washington University and other schools across the country has also risen, it has not been as drastic, with the number of international students at the University increasing from 283 to 472 over the past five years.

Chinese students, who compose 22 percent of all international students in the United States, are often drawn to top American universities for their prestige, the ability to conduct research with world-class professors, and their relatively flexible admissions process.

Sophomore Zack Gong said applying to American schools allowed him to showcase his interests, which range from finance to boxing.

“In China, [admission] is purely based on a test score, but in the US it is a well-rounded assessment,” he said.

Many Chinese students use American universities to prepare for a higher level of graduate school or work than they would have had if they went to college back home.

“In a lot of countries, and particularly now in China, it helps to study in the US because it gives them an advantage [in] where they might work,” said Kathy Steiner-Lang, assistant vice chancellor and director of the OISS. “It gives them more opportunities.”

Beyond cultural factors playing an effect, the University has also worked over the past several years to strengthen its connections to China.

Director of Admissions Julie Shimabukuro said Washington University has attracted Chinese students in multiple ways, by getting referrals from alumni living in China, sending University representatives to conduct information sessions at Chinese high schools, and networking with Chinese universities with the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.

“I think the best way that students learn about [the University] in China is through our current students from China and our study abroad students who share their great experiences about [the University],” Shimabukuro wrote in an email to Student Life.

Some Chinese students join the University’s ambassador program, visiting their high schools and speaking about their time in St. Louis. Many students studying abroad in China take part in similar discussions as well.

While the ongoing trend has led some to argue that the rise in international students means displacing otherwise qualified American students, Shimabukuro said the University does not have quotas for any group of students.

“Our goal is to attract and enroll the most talented students from the US and around the world who will make contributions to our community by being great scholars, leaders, and friends,” she wrote.

Junior Ben Kallen, who attended a weeklong nuclear arms forum at Fudan University in Shanghai last summer, said he personally considers a diverse student body with international students extremely important.

“I think it has a great potential to expose Americans to world views other than their own,” he said.

Steiner-Lang noted that as international relationships evolve and China asserts itself as a major world power, connections between American and Chinese undergraduates may become more important than ever.

“It helps to have students here from China, since the country’s such a strong player in the global market,” she said. “It’s important for our students to have exposure and to build relationships.”

Editor’s note: The initial version of this article stated that 182 Chinese students enrolled in the fall of 2011. The correct number is 32, and 182 is the total number of Chinese undergraduate students.

The legislation requires most insurance plans to cover preventative care such as birth control pills, sterilization, and the “morning after” pill.

This means that employees will be able to receive birth control without co-pay, through their work insurance.

According to Dr. Alan Glass, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Students and Director of The Habif Health and Wellness Center, Student Health Services is not yet sure if this will make birth control free for students.

“The final federal regulations that will govern student health insurance programs have not yet been released. These regulations will allow us to determine what will be covered by the Washington University Student Health Insurance program in the next year and beyond,” Glass wrote in an email to Student Life.

Currently, female Washington University students can receive contraception evaluations though a co-pay system. Several types of oral contraceptive pills are available through the University at a cost as low as $20 and male condoms are available for free.

According to Glass, the legislation may make birth control more affordable for the Washington University community.

“Women’s healthcare, which for some women includes contraception, should be accessible and affordable to all college women,” he wrote. “The next several years will present challenges in many areas of healthcare, including this one. My hope is that the end result will be an even more effective and affordable way of providing service to the women of Washington University.”

At nearby Saint Louis University, a Jesuit institution, the student health center does not provide or prescribe contraception.

Despite protests from the Church, Catholic institutions, including universities, will be required to include contraception in their insurance coverage.

Although churches are given some special privileges under the new policy, the Roman Catholic Church petitioned for broader exemption from coverage for catholic organizations such as hospitals and universities. After listening to appeals from the church as well as family planning organizations, Obama rejected the claims.

Still, these institutions will be given an extra year to implement the new regulations, and universities such as SLU will not be required to provide contraception until 2014.

Dr. Leigh Schmidt, who works with the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, believes that most Catholics are not as troubled as church leaders in regards to Obama’s decision.

“On the ground, in the student body, among lay Catholics, the birth control question has largely been settled. Its very unlikely that that group is going to find Obama’s insistence problematic,” Schmidt said.

A recent Hart poll revealed that 71% of American voters and 77% of Catholic women voters supported free birth control for women through insurance coverage.

Louisa Kornblatt, a sophomore, supports the policy.

“If doors are closed to a woman because of financial constraints, doors are now open because her insurance covers contraception and she can choose the life she wants to have,” Kornblatt said. “Decades ago, [for a woman] to get her hands on contraception she would have to claim a different marital status or go on the black market.”

Other students recognized the complexity of the issue.

“It’s a hard question because while I feel it should be available to all students, I understand that many religious institutions would be wary of covering contraception for fear of promoting sexual activities,” sophomore Emily Meyers said.

Freshman Kaitlin McTague used to support Michelle Bachmann but is now leaning toward Romney.

“The problem I have with Gingrich is, first and foremost, he’s been married three times. If the man cannot manage his family, how can we expect him to manage our country? Romney, on the other hand, has been married for 42 years and exhibits the leadership qualities necessary to be president,” McTague said.

Despite Gingrich’s troubles in his personal life, McTague acknowledges that Gingrich may be the Republican’s greatest weapon against incumbent President Barack Obama at this point.

“That being the biggest goal on the table, I could easily be persuaded to vote Gingrich,” McTague said.

Gingrich and Romney had a showdown in Monday’s debate at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla., where all four candidates waged personal attacks. Romney accused Gingrich of “influence peddling” because he worked for Freddie Mac as a healthcare policy advocate while receiving payments from health care companies.

It may be unclear who won the Florida debate, but Political Science professor Steven Smith noted it was a disappointed showing for Santorum and Paul.

Smith said this year’s Republican race is particularly interesting.

“Republicans are quite ambivalent about their candidates this year,” Smith said. “The momentum can shift very quickly as result of campaign ads, debates and other factors.”

The Florida primary will take place on Jan. 31, with 50 convention delegates at stake. Florida is known for being a swing state with a large and diverse constituency spread between very rural areas and metropolitan cities; it also has a large immigrant population.

While the Republican Party has yet to hone in on a particular candidate, Gingrich and Romney have emerged as frontrunners—each claiming victory in at least one primary.

Other Republican students have also been forced to change their allegiances. Junior Michael Rosengart, who worked for John Huntsman’s campaign, said he is disappointed in Huntsman’s choice to concede but believes it was the right choice considering the candidate’s small support base.

“Our party’s foremost goal needs to be to defeat President Obama and halt his job-killing agenda, so [Huntsman] stepping aside was the right move. My hope is that he’ll find a way to stay relevant over the next couple of years because I think he’ll make a first-class president one day,” Rosengart said.

Rosengart said he has yet to be sold by either Gingrich or Romney.

“What I do know is that either Governor Romney or Speaker Gingrich could be doing a better job as president than President Obama,” Rosengart said.

Freshman Dan Kronthal was also in favor of Huntsman before he dropped out. Kronthal now supports Romney.

“I think Romney has the business background and organization skills necessary to revitalize the economy,” Kronthal said. “I also just don’t trust Gingrich.”

The next primary, after Florida’s, will take place in Nevada on Feb. 4.

Olivier Douliery | Abaca Press | MCT

Newt Gingrich answers a question during the Republican presidential debate at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011

The candidates competing for the Republican nominations include Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Gary E. Johnson, Buddy Roemer, Fred Karger and Rick Santorum.

“Gingrich is polling well right now, but I think Romney will be the ultimate winner,” College Republican President Jun Yoon said. “I prefer Romney because I think he will poll better with independent and moderate [voters] than Gingrich. It’s what is the most crucial in the general election.”

Yoon believes the Republican Party has a good chance of winning the 2012 election.

“I think the GOP is doing good. Researches have shown that economic conditions are the most important indicator for elections, and the voters are dissatisfied with Obama’s policies, and the economy is only going to get worse due to the Euro crisis,” he said.

According to a recent Gallup Poll, Gingrich is leading with 33 percent of voter support and Romney is coming in second with 23 percent. Ron Paul is currently trailing in third with 9 percent of support.

“I think that Mitt Romney is going to win the primary. Once we know who wins the primary, then we can tell what the GOP’s chances are of winning,” senior Joel Yambert said. “[Romney] has less negative backlash in media and social media than the other candidates.”

Yambert believes that the better image will benefit Romney in the long run.

“He is sometimes wishy-washy, but I agree with most of his stances,” he said. “On social issues he is pro-life and I am pro-life.”

However, there are also students who are less optimistic of the GOP’s chances in the upcoming election.

“I am not very hopeful for a good candidate to emerge from the primary to confront the Dems in 2012,” former College Democrats president junior Sherveen Mashayekhi said. “But I think Mitt Romney will win the nomination.”

Nearly everyone agrees that Romney will win the nomination.

“I think Newt Gingrich is going to win the primary in the Iowa caucus, and Mitt Romney is going to win the Republican nomination,” sophomore Jake Lyonfields said.

Lyonfields is critical of the way the Republican candidates have been running their campaigns.

“They have all said enough ridiculous or terrible things so none would be electable, especially their positions on social issues are out of the line with what the majority of Americans believe,” he said.

According to Leigha Empson, president of the College Democrats, the outcomes of the primaries and the general election are still up in the air.

“I think it’s hard to tell who would win the primary right now with all the recent changes. I think Romney would do better in the general election, but Gingrich has a big surge in recent polls, so he would be getting more campaign contributions…It’s too early to tell right now,” Empson said. “I don’t think any of the candidates stand any chance besides Romney. It depends on who wins the Republican nomination.”

Empson also believes that external factors beyond the candidates themselves will influence the GOP’s chance of success in the election.

“There are still a lot of variables, like the Supreme Court’s decision on health care, that would affect Obama’s campaign,” she said.

The Iowa caucuses will take place on Jan. 3, followed by primaries in January in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

The study, performed by faculty at the University of Virginia (UVA), suggests that the mortality rate for college students is lower than that of their peers not in college, and that suicide—not alcohol—is the leading cause of death among college students nationwide.

Researchers collected information from 157 colleges across the country, for a full sample size of 1.36 million students between ages 18 and 24. It was the first study to focus solely on causes of death among college students since 1939, Adrienne Keller, co-investigator and associate professor at UVA, said.

While minimizing alcohol abuse is a primary goal of Washington University’s student-safety program, the school has also implemented many programs to help students deal with depression or other mental health issues.

Thomas Brounk, director of Mental Health Services at the University, said that Student Health Services (SHS) works intently to help students cope with psychological struggles. He noted that the number of students visiting SHS for help with depression has increased tremendously in the past several years.

“Last year we saw close to 1,200 students in the counseling service, and probably about half of them were dealing with some form of depression,” Brounk said. He compared this to about 500 students when he first arrived in 1994.

Groups like Uncle Joe’s, a student-run counseling and resource center, also provide emotional and psychological support for students. The program offers confidential, one-on-one meetings with trained individuals to talk about any problems or concerns a student might have.

Such programs, which provide interaction with trained individuals, are vital in reducing suicide rates for college students, Brounk said.

“If they can get treatment before things get really bad, suicide can be totally preventable,” he said.

Beyond quantifying the significance of suicide among college students, the study also found that commonly accepted figures for student alcohol-related deaths were inflated. Keller noted that in the past, the rate of alcohol-related deaths for college students was assumed to be equal to the rate for the same-age in the general population.

The researchers at UVA found that the rate of student alcohol-related deaths were just under five per 100,000, versus about eight per 100,000 for those of the same age but not in college.

A major reason for lower incidence of alcohol-related deaths among college students may be that students drive less after drinking than their non-college peers, Keller said.

“Many of the students in the study are residential and typically walk to where they socialize, which is probably the single biggest reason why our rate of death from alcohol-related traffic accidents is so much lower than what would be predicted by looking at the same-age people in the general population,” she said.

Students suggested that lower fatality rates might also be due to colleges’ alcohol prevention programs. Washington University has all students take an alcohol education online course before freshman orientation, and recently joined the National College Health Improvement Project—a partnership with peer institutions to tackle the alcohol abuse problem on college campuses.

“There was a lot of information about alcohol abuse and the dangers of binge-drinking when we got to campus,” junior Cameron Warren said. “The school did a lot to make sure we were aware of the risks of alcohol, but not much was said about suicide.”

Keller cautioned against generalizing the findings to all college students, as the sample was not statistically random, but derived only from the 157 schools that responded to a survey sent to 1,150 institutions. In particular, she noted that the study overrepresented Caucasians in urban, public universities.

New York University’s recent decision to stop funding the National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP) has incited a host of discussions amongst universities over whether it is practical to offer scholarships based on standardized test scores.

The NMSP has recently come under fire as top-tier schools have begun to doubt the practicality of offering financial aid based on PSAT scores. As the economy continues to struggle, some schools have joined their Ivy League peers to shift their focuses to need-based aid.

NYU has one of the largest merit-based financial aid programs in the country. It was the ninth school to leave the NMSP, two years after funding 83 National Merit scholarships for its 2009-10 class.

For the 2009-2010 freshman class, Washington University funded 161 National Merit Scholars—the fifth largest number in the nation. The University offers Scholars and finalists between $7500 and $8000 over their four years.

The NMSP works with colleges to provide more than $50 million to students annually. Around 15,000 finalists are chosen each year based on performance on the PSAT exam. Approximately 8,300 finalists are selected to receive one of three kinds of Merit Scholarships. Some of these finalists are awarded one-time $2,500 scholarship sponsored directly by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). The University’s policy has been to extend this $2,500 award for three years for each scholar sponsored by the NMSC.

The other two Merit Scholarship categories are corporate-sponsored merit scholarship awards and college-sponsored merit scholarship awards. The University sponsors an annual $2000 scholarship for every NMSP finalist not awarded the $2500 scholarship sponsored by the NMSC.

Some students are supportive of the decrease in university-sponsored NMSC scholarships

“So much importance has been built up around standardized testing, and there’s kind of a modern day consequence to that,” sophomore Yuan Xia said. “People are beginning to realize that this isn’t the most viable method of evaluating a student’s success, so society is reforming its perspective on education in general.”

But Xia added that while the system may be flawed, cutting it may ultimately harm students who depend on the scholarships for college.

“I disagree with standardized testing in general, but…you’d be decreasing the total amount of money granted to students, and that’s what most important,” he said.

National Merit scholarships do not factor into students’ admissions decisions at Washington University.

Director of Student Financial Services, Bill Witbrodt, noted that students are admitted based on a variety of factors: their achievement in high school, their character and integrity and anything else that sets them apart.

Witbrodt added that the University does not recruit students based on their National Merit status.

The company beat out 15 other teams to win the first place prize of $20,000.

“[The competition] was for student entrepreneurs, and most of the semi-finalists ended up being MBA students. We were one of the few [part]undergrad teams in the competition,” said 2011 graduate Dave Spandorfer, co-founder of Janji.

The 2011 UCCS Sports/Outdoors Business Plan Competition had three criteria: a presentation, question and answer session and business plan. The rules required at least half of the principals to be currently enrolled in either college or graduate school.

“It was tough going into a competitive atmosphere with so many established teams that are older. The key is to remain confident throughout the presentation and answer the questions,” senior and Janji co-founder, Michael Burnstein, said. “The average teams [members] were around 28 years old.”

The competition is the first in the world to focus solely on Sports and Outdoors new venture concepts.

“The best part of the event was the feedback we got from judges and the validation of our idea. We know we have a really important cause and a great product. To hear so many people support Janji was really encouraging,” Spandorfer said.

Janji plans to help solve the water shortage and malnutrition crisis throughout the world by engaging runners in America to raise funds and awareness for these problems.

Two varieties of running shorts are available for sale on RunJanji.com. A portion of the proceeds from each purchase will benefit charities in either Kenya or Haiti.

“Run for Kenya” shorts purchases will help supply water to Kenyans via a partnership with Water.org. A portion of proceeds from “Run for Haiti” shorts purchases will go toward the Medika Mamba—a proven nutritional formula made by Meds and Foods for Kids and produced in Haiti.

Currently, only men’s shorts are listed for sale on the website.

The business, originally named Edele, won a $15,000 prize in the Skandalaris Center’s YouthBridge Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition last spring.

“We changed the name because no one could remember how to say it, and it was confusing with the singer Adele,” Spandorfer said. “The word Janji means ‘promise’ [in Malay].”

According to Burnstein, the prize money will help cover general startup costs such as inventory, website construction and graphic design.

Janji is led by current University students Burstein, junior David Hamm, sophomore Sarah Fisher and recent graduates Spandorfer and Kenny Fairleigh. All are currently or have previously been members of Washington University’s cross country team.

Spandorfer is thankful for the University’s support in helping Janji achieve success in the UCCS competition.

“There was no way we could have won without the support of the Skandalaris Center. Their entrepreneurship program and their continual support has been critical in taking Janji from an idea to something real,” he said.

The shorts will be released this February in St. Louis at Big River Running, and nationally this April.

Erase student loans after 20 years of regular payments (versus 25 years currently)

Allow students to consolidate multiple federal student loans to reduce interest payments by up to 0.5%

Lower payment caps from 15% to 10% for those qualifying for the income-based repayment program (around 1.6 million students nationwide)
Not affect aid provided by Washington University.

Sources: the Project on Student Debt and Bill Witbrodt, director of Student Financial Services

President Barack Obama announced a government program intended to help college students manage their student loans and debt, as well as reduce their monthly payments last week.

The new “Pay As You Earn” program, which will take effect next year, will reduce the interest rates many students pay on loans, and waive their loans after 20 years of maintaining payments.

In addition, those who qualify for the income-based repayment program will see their payment caps lowered by one-third.

Director of Student Financial Services Bill Witbrodt said that Obama’s student debt plan will have no impact on the amount of financial aid Washington University provides for its students.

“This initiative is intended to help students who have borrowed in the past to finance their educations and who, after graduation, may not have been able to find a job or have lost their jobs due to the economic downturn,” he said.

Congress previously approved the proposal to lessen the student debt crisis in 2010, and planned to execute it in 2014. But due to Obama’s executive order, it will be implemented in 2012.

The project is just one of the government’s current efforts to aid students struggling to finance their educations. “The Know Before You Owe” project, run by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Department of Education, has organized an informational worksheet to show students the aid they qualify for and inform them of the total cost and risk of certain loans.

Freshman Amrutha Kumaran is in favor of the plan.

“I really like the idea of a program to help undergraduates be more aware of their financial options before entering into debt,” she said. “Depending on the demographics of your class, you may not be very well-informed on financial safety and wisdom.”

Kumaran added that while she supports how the Pay As You Earn proposal may help students afford higher education, she does not support the premise of erasing student debt after 20 years.

“It’s not holding families or individuals accountable for their money, which could lead to more issues in the economy than we already have,” Kumaran said. “We’ve already seen that financial irresponsibility has a lot of adverse effects in society.”

She said that while money is a concern, it is only one factor to be considered in choosing a school.

“I think the cost is always worth it if the quality of the school and everything else about the school is what you love,” Kumaran said.

Senior Colleen Yard agreed, saying she supports the government’s initiative to allay the student debt problem but disagrees with much of its approach. She noted that limiting loan payments will only delay payback, and stated that the government should pursue alternate routes to make higher education more affordable.

“Loans are not the solution to get more people to go to college,” Yard said. “I know that was the goal [of the plan], but there needs to be more in terms of grants or other incentives to get people to invest in college.”

She stressed that while the changes may be beneficial, the onus of staying informed will continue to lie on students.

“I think what’s really important is that [people know that] not only can these loans be an option, but they are educated to know what [taking out a loan] means so they don’t go into spiraling debt,” Yard said.