By Courtney Ross

The desire for a college education has become a dream rather than a realistic goal for many American students. As parents and students realize that an affordable college education may be out of their personal reach, many look to loans as a possible alternative. Unfortunately, as families are learning, the disheartening reality is that loans may also be too expensive, making them an unfavorable or unobtainable option.

As a student, I have struggled with the expense of college and the seemingly dreadful loan process. I was fortunate enough to find a reasonable loan, with my father as a co-signer, from a nonprofit organization. My younger sister, who graduated from high school just one year after me, was not so fortunate. She applied for a loan from the same nonprofit organization but was denied because my father could not co-sign for both of us. With no credit of her own, she searched for months before she was forced to borrow from a private bank. The interest rate on her loan was monstrous, at more than 10 percent, compared with the 7.2 percent interest I was paying. The outrageousness did not end there; she was also required to pay an additional 3 percent in loan fees.

After my sister received her first bank statement, she decided that it was unrealistic to assume she could afford such a loan. Following her first semester at a state university in Rhode Island, she made the difficult decision to transfer to a local community college. Although my sister had settled into her new environment, made new friends, and excelled in her classes, she was forced to change the college path that she had been planning all throughout high school. Adding salt to the wound was the fact that she would still have to pay back nearly $20,000 for just one semester at that school.

Ultimately, the scarce access to affordable loans caused my sister to move back home and sacrifice the “college experience.” She is currently working extremely hard to get into a radiology program at her community college that only accepts 30 students each year due to the lack of resources needed to properly educate a higher number of students. Is this really what the American dream of a college education should look like?

My sister is a driven young woman who has always excelled in school, and yet she is struggling to continue with an education solely because of affordability. Her case is certainly not an isolated one. Thousands of students across America are struggling with how to pay for the increasing cost of college after discovering the worrisome high cost of loans. If Americans want to be able to compete on an international level, it is clear that student loan reform is necessary.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) is a bill that could make college more accessible to thousands of students by making all student loans direct loans. With no more unnecessary loan fees and a likely interest rate of 6.8 percent, far below that of my sister’s private bank loan, roughly $67 billion will be saved each year. These savings would go to increase Pell grants, making loans less necessary for some students; funds would also be given to community colleges to provide the necessary resources for the influx of students they have seen recently — something that could really help my sister.

The bottom line is that there is a real student loan crisis in America. Hardworking, intelligent young people, like my sister, are not able to take of advantage of opportunities they should have as Americans. The education of younger generations is the key to the future of this country. When affordable student loans become less accessible and college becomes more expensive, the future of America becomes bleaker.

Courtney Ross, a junior at Roger Williams University, is currently serving as a fellow with AAUW in Washington, D.C.

This entry has been cross-posted from AAUW Dialog.