Page 3 - 2024 April report

A FINANCIAL WRECKING BALL
Robert A. Krause
The ocean is beautiful, but it can kill you if you’re naïve. Powerful things are like that.
Take education. It’s a powerful pathway to a life of self-sufficiency, dignity, meaning, and community contribution. But it can also be a financial wrecking ball.
Student debt has been in the news a lot lately, and for good reason. The rising cost of education is leaving many students saddled with debt for decades. According to Education Data Initiative, “Americans owe a total of $1.75 trillion in federal and private student loan debt combined.” US News & World Report states that “university graduates owe an average of $33,500 a year after they leave school.”
Student debt hits disadvantaged students particularly hard. For those who borrow to go to school, not completing a degree arguably puts them in a worse position than when they started—further in debt yet uncredentialed.
At JSF, we see the remarkable good higher education can provide. We also recognize the real value it must offer. Navigating a college experience can be daunting. JSF scholarship funding reduces a student’s financial burden directly. This is one piece of the financial picture. There are many more pieces. Our most effective partners understand this and provide support and counsel to students and their families. They point them to scholarship opportunities, FAFSA
applications, budgeting, and value of schools. For many, this support can prove to be more beneficial than scholarship dollars.
Elevation Scholars solicits scholarship dollars from universities. Operation Jump Start provides individual cost analysis with parameters for student debt. Take Stock/Johnson Scholars Program not only provides full tuition scholarships to program graduates but prepares them for college (thus avoiding wasting resources on remedial classes) through strong programing and mentorship. Many of our tribal institutions are intentional to include counsel on debt as a means to pay for education. In addition to providing college preparatory programs and mentorship, Pathways to Education Canada has a strong alumni network that increases student retention and completion, ensuring that educational dollars are maximized. Groves Learning Organization, The Bedford School and Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind all provide strong foundations for students with disabilities to qualify for scholarship support in post-secondary programs.
In all our programing areas, JSF has recognized that personal engagement with students is critical to their success. JSF dollars are most leveraged with programs that are engaged in guiding students through the maze of education with an eye on value. Financial counseling is important to managing the consideration of student debt and a critical component of student success.
Education Page 1