How Graduating with Less Debt Impacts Your Future - Scholarships South Carolina, Meeting Street Scholarship Fund (2024)

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How Graduating with Less Debt Impacts Your Future - Scholarships South Carolina, Meeting Street Scholarship Fund? ›

The Meeting Street Scholarship Fund was founded with the mission of making college accessible for hardworking, qualified students who want to attend one of South Carolina's best colleges. Graduating with less debt helps pave the way for a more financially prosperous life for students and future generations.

The Benefits of Graduating Debt-Free

It can provide more financial freedom and flexibility, allowing you to prioritize other financial goals like saving for retirement, buying a home, or starting a business. It can also reduce stress and give you a financial head start in your career.

Scholarships can help reduce the student loan debt crisis by providing financial assistance to students. By awarding scholarships to students based on merit, financial need, or other factors like field of study, students can reduce their dependency on student loans for their education.

Key Takeaways. Carrying student debt can affect your ability to buy a home if your debt-to-income ratio is too high. If you have too much student loan debt, you won't be able to save as much for retirement. Student loan debt can lower your credit score, especially if you fail to make on-time payments.

When debt burdens are lifted, student borrowers can start new businesses and in turn, create job opportunities for others. They can buy homes for the first time in their lives, pay down other debts such as their credit card bills, and have less reliance on social safety net programs.

Less flexibility with career choices

Like many college graduates, student loan debt can significantly impact your career choices. In a survey of Class of 2024 students, online recruiting platform Handshake found that 70% of graduates with student debt expect their debt to influence the jobs they consider.

Key Takeaways. More than four in ten students at public four-year universities complete their bachelor's degree with zero debt. Nearly eight in ten students graduate with less than $30,000 in debt.

If you're looking to attend a prestigious university, a scholarship can give you the financial means. Additionally, a scholarship can help you cover the cost of living expenses while you're in school. It can include things like rent, food, and books. A scholarship can also help you graduate from college debt-free.

Grants and scholarships are free aid (otherwise known as “gift aid”), meaning they don't need to be paid back, making them the most sought-after options. The main difference between a grant and a scholarship is where the funds come from, eligibility criteria, and the application process.

Scholarships and grants can help reduce or eliminate student loan debt. Federal government grants like the Pell Grant and TEACH Grant offer substantial financial support. State and local grants are also available, often requiring specific service commitments.

How does debt affect your future? ›

Moreover, debt can have a cascading effect on your financial well-being. When a significant portion of your income goes towards debt payments, it leaves little room for saving and investing in your future. This can hinder your ability to save for retirement, build an emergency fund, or pursue other financial goals.

Debt over a certain amount (about $10,000) may depress graduation rates and harm post-college financial security, especially for those in the bottom 75% of the income distribution. As the student debt threshold level increases so too does the dropout level, particularly for poor and minority students.

Black and Latino borrowers are disproportionately impacted by student loan debt. Due to racial wealth disparities, most Black and Latino college students come from low-income backgrounds and can count on only a fraction of the financial support.

Student loan debt can prevent you from making major purchases like a home or a car. An economy may see fewer new businesses when there is more student loan debt. Student loan debt also limits consumer spending. Economic recovery can be more difficult when there are many people carrying student loan debt.

There's a strong link between debt and poor mental health. People with debt are more likely to face common mental health issues, such as prolonged stress, depression, and anxiety. Debt can affect your physical well-being, too. This is especially true if the stigma of debt is keeping you from asking for help.

Proponents argue that large-scale debt cancellation would help advance racial and socioeconomic equality and boost the economy. Without the burden of student loans, they say, more people will be able to buy homes, take entrepreneurial risks, or save for retirement.

Although tuition costs are rising, many students still manage to graduate with low or no debt by attending affordable schools, receiving substantial financial aid or working while studying.

Borrowing to earn a four-year college degree typically pays off, according to research from the College Board, a company that helps prepare students for higher education. This conclusion holds true even after considering the time out of the labor force when a student could have been earning money.

Canceling student debt could go a long way toward narrowing the racial wealth gap. High debt burdens have prevented an entire generation from achieving life milestones like getting married, purchasing a home, or even saving for retirement.