The national college decision day of May 1 is creeping up on us high school seniors much quicker than we have thought out.

While many students have sent in their deposits, many more have yet to make their decisions. The debate on whether or not this school is the perfect fit comes down to many factors including campus, program, and most importantly, money.

Many schools are becoming more expensive and have been becoming less accessible to those with low to mid income families. This usually prompts taking out unholy amounts of student loans that would condemn families to decades in debt. There are some key things to keep in mind before you decide to take on some debt such as taking into consideration the costs of potential graduate studies after.

If you really want to borrow money, make sure it can be reasonably repaid. In the end, it all comes down to the simple fact that you have to be realistic of your financial situation and whether or not you have the money to pay it off. Remember that student loans are not good debt, because in the end “good debt”, is still debt.

Most borrowers (on average) have students around 25k to 50k in outstanding debt. On the other hand, President Biden has shown that he is open to canceling student loan debt. In a private meeting with House Democrats he has brought up the suggestion to take significant action to relieve student loans.

If this executive order were to ever come to fruition this would relieve tens of thousands of dollars of debts. The Biden administration has already canceled more than $17 billion in debt for 725,000 borrowers specifically including those who are permanently disabled, or ones who were cheated by their college.

President Biden wants to target those of low income such as those who make less than 25k per year and immediately cancel 10k off of it. Good news, there is also word of potential change of student loan rates, and more opportunities for cheaper loans or loan forgiveness.

President Biden extended his student loan payment pause through August 31, 2022. Bad news, 7 million people are excluded from Biden’s executive order due to the fact that their debts originate from private companies.

As mentioned before, national decision day is quickly creeping up on us, so choose wisely, good luck Bears!