Today’s teenagers are more nervous about taking on student loan debt after seeing millennials struggling to pay it back, a new study found.
Known as “Generation Z,” people born in the mid- to late- 1990s place a high value on education, but are much more worried about being able to afford it than previous generations.
The poll, the fourth in a series of surveys conducted by Northeastern University as part of its Innovation Imperative initiative, found that 80 percent of survey participants believe having a college degree is important to having a career. But 67 percent of the respondents said they are worried they won’t be able to afford college and more than half of respondents were concerned about the impact of paying back any student loan debt.
About 64 percent said they were concerned about being able to get a job post-college and 60 percent expressed concern about having enough money as adults. Nearly one-third of the surveyed teenagers said college costs are “not worth it” and that the “costs will outweigh the benefits.”
This survey is based on the responses of more than 1,000 16- to 19-year-olds from around the country.
“Cleary they have almost no appetite for debt,” Mike Armini, who leads the Innovation Imperative initiative, told Inside Higher Ed. “There’s strong support for going to college, but they’re particularly averse to student loan debt. They really see that as the path to success and social mobility, but they’re certainly concerned about the cost. Like many people, they see it as a worthwhile investment, but they’re not as willing to go into debt for it.”
Armini believes this strong reaction from today’s teenagers stems from the 2008 recession and the subsequent struggles faced by older generations. With student loan debt topping $1.1 trillion and default rates still creeping up, it seems like a logical rationale.
“The great recession was a formative experience for this generation,” he said. “They saw their parents or their friends’ parents suffering real setbacks. We have to increasingly show what the value is of what we offer. People are still willing to make the investment if they see the value, so we, as colleges, have to point to that value in a much more direct way than we’re used to doing.”
The study also found that Generation Z holds different beliefs about the type of college education they want to receive.
An overwhelming 72 percent believe that colleges should allow students to design their own course of study or major. And though this is a dip from a previous survey, 57 percent of teenagers believe colleges should make more of an effort to make their classes more accessible by having them online.
Nearly 80 percent said their college education should include some form of professional experience, such as an internship.
The profound message that these findings are sending to colleges is that these students want to shape their own journeys in education,” Joseph Aoun, president of Northeastern, told Inside Higher Ed. “We have to shift from a teacher-centered approach to an approach where students can have more control over designing those journeys. They want to design their own majors. They want to be engaged. They want real-world experience. They don’t want to be put in the confines of full-year on-campus curriculum. They want flexibility and innovation.”
There has already been effort into making this a reality.
Sen. Mike Lee (R- Utah) introduced the Higher Education Reform and Opportunity Act back in January. This would allow all 50 states and the District of Columbia to develop their own systems of accrediting educational institutions, curricula, apprenticeships, programs, and even individual courses, which would in turn allow more student customization to add up to a degree. So far this proposal hasn’t gained much traction, but as Generation Z hits their college years support for it could grow.
