Bureau estimates outstanding student loans in the U.S. at $1.1 trillion for 2011

Her goal was simple: Get admitted to college, receive a good education, secure a stable-paying job and eventually find a significant other and start a family.

Jessica Lewno, like so many other young college students, has accomplished the first step and is currently working on the second step to achieve this, but in doing so, she has found herself among the millions of students nationwide who find themselves amid financial strain.

According to a recent report released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, outstanding student loan debt has reached an excess total of $1.1 trillion, making it the largest consumer debt class in the nation, after home mortgages.

As a first-year psychology student at the University of South Dakota, Lewno first knew she wanted to go to college while attending school at Waverly/South Shore High in Waverly, S.D..

Lewno said she wanted to go to Mount Marty College in Yankton, but after evaluating the cost to attend Mount Marty, USD seemed like a better option.

“In-state tuition was going to be cheaper, and it wasn’t far away from home, so the gas bill wouldn’t be as expensive,” Lewno said.

Lewno said her decision to pursue higher education at USD was not met without trepidation for how to pay for the impending costs associated with college.

“Obviously you think about it, but in the end you hope it should work out fine,” Lewno said.

The estimated expense for a year of schooling at USD during the 2012-13 year totaled $19,677, as reported by the National Center for Education Statistics. This amount alone does not take in to consideration student lifestyle decisions, such as off-campus housing, food and entertainment costs.

Nearly finished with her first year of higher education, Lewno said she has taken out roughly $12-14,000 in subsidized student loans to stay on track of achieving the goal so many view as essential.

“(Financial aid) was pretty easy to get,” Lewno said. “There were a few minor details to work out, but it was pretty easy.”

And while Lewno said this financial burden leaves her leery, what with another three or more years of repeated expenditures and incurring interest on previous loans, professor of economics Mike Allgrunn said debt should not be feared if it is managed effectively.

“Debt is an instrument to obtain things you want,” Allgrunn said. “ Whether it’s a wise instrument, of course, depends on what you’re going into debt for and the terms on that debt.”

Speaking on a national level, Allgrunn said Americans tend to borrow at a very high level, and students need to take the time to consider the type of debt they are taking on and if it is worth the investment.

“It’s a cost/benefit question,” Allgrunn said. “Everyone’s circumstances are different, (but college is) a great time to learn about financial issues and be aware of them.”

Throughout the years, Allgrunn said he has noticed a popular trend among students in which they attend college expecting their lives to work out by default, simply because they received a higher education. Allgrunn attributes this ideology to lack of preparedness and not taking the time to evaluate one’s true-life goals.

“Deciding to go to college is a big decision for anyone to make and on the one hand, it doesn’t make sense that students should have everything figured out by the time they get into college,” Allgrunn said. “But on the other hand, college isn’t a time to explore without considering all the costs.”

After spending the past six years to explore six different majors before settling on communication studies as her primary focus for undergraduate’s degree, senior Sarah McCann believes her time at USD has been worthwhile but wishes she had managed her finances more effectively.

“I never really thought about (finances) until I got a letter from the loan company recently saying the deferment period was up on one of my loans,” McCann said. “I have a lot of debt, and I’m not really sure what I’m going to do about it.”

Among the 4,467 USD students who opted for a student loan in the 2010-11 school year, as recorded by the National Center for Education Statistics, McCann estimates her time spent at USD over the course of 11 semesters has racked up over $49,000 in student loans, not including interest.

McCann said she is realizing what loans are really about — that they do not necessarily translate into “real money,” as she described it — and questions some of her actions from her earlier college years.

“I probably shouldn’t have gone shopping with the refund I would get from the school,” she said.

Currently working two jobs while finishing up her undergraduate’s degree in order to graduate in May, McCann has relied solely upon herself financially these past six years, and said she questions her decision to pay as much as she is for her degree.

“I felt like college was something I was expected to do, and I wanted to do it, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” McCann said. “I wasted money and time that I didn’t need to waste by exploring so much.”

Reflecting upon her time spent at USD, McCann said two of her friends will be graduating in May with her, one with an undergraduate’s degree and another with a graduate’s degree, both of whom are debt free.

“I wish I would have talked to them about how they were going about it, rather than just saying, ‘Oh, whatever, I’ll take out some loans,’” McCann said. Feeling stupid and ignorant, McCann said there were probably options available to her she was not aware of.

Among the students at USD who are not paying for college, who McCann said are “lucky,” is first-year Danny Duncan.

Aiming to earn a degree in physics and education, the Chicago-native said he was able to work out a deal with his parents that allowed them to pay for college without incurring any interest.

“It’s going to be easier for them to pay it now and not pay interest,” Duncan said. “I will try to contribute funds back to my parents when I get a stable job.”

Duncan describes his social background as “well-off,” and said that before coming to college, he never really understood what it was like having expenses, such as school supplies and food – things he now pays for on a regular basis.

Hoping to find work as a nuclear physicist, Duncan believes that finding a job is the number one priority before he can consider paying back his parents for their contributions to his education.

Regardless of the amount of debt students face, Allgrunn suggests to any student who finds himself or herself in debt or considering into going into debt to carefully consider the long term effects that decision will have on their life.

“The future will come sooner than you think, so think about it heavily,” Allgrunn said.