Students find meeting college payments can be tough

The economy is tight.

That is such a common phrase nowadays. However, the phrase does little to demonstrate the actual difficulties that people must endure, especially when loans and bills begin to pile up.

Kristine Brammer, a 19-year-old sophomore at Norwich, explained, "This school is really expensive to start out with and my family has six kids in it. Three of us being in college is kind of insane with the amounts of loans."

College students who always struggle with stress and grades now also worry about finances and jobs and a yearly tuition increase.

Lauren Wobby, Norwich's treasurer and chief financial officer, said, "The tuition increase has been set for next year."

"The president (of Norwich), as he does every spring, has communicated the tuition increase for next year (to students via letter), which is 5 percent," she said.

Wobby explained that, "It is not just the tuition that goes up, but the room and board and fees are also going up."

"Almost everyone who is at Norwich gets some form of tuition discount, though," she said. "It goes hand-in-hand with tuition raises."

Even with financial aid some students struggle to remain at Norwich.

Jonathan Wright, a sophomore and 20-year-old nursing major from Middlebury, Vt., explained, "My financial situation is hard-pressed. I've got four younger siblings, so it's difficult enough to get the money to come to college."

Margaret Manning, a 21-year-old junior double majoring in mathematics and education from Colchester, Vt., said that the scholarships she receives do help but on top of that, "I have two jobs plus I tutor and get no help from my parents anymore."

Students rely heavily on loans, scholarships, jobs and help from parents.

Siena Morgan, a 20-year-old sophomore double majoring in communications and English from Colleyville, Texas, said, "I received two scholarships to go here, one for academics and a leadership scholarship."

Those scholarships cover the majority of her tuition. "My parents are paying for my school," she said.

Dana Cochrane, a 20-year-old sophomore from Boxford, Mass., majoring in political science, said, "I have a bunch of scholarships from the school and my parents have been saving for college since I was born so I'm not really concerned about it because we have enough to pay for it now."

Some students have already begun working hard to pay off the loans and are hoping that the jobs they will get after college will help pay of the rest of the loans.

Jonathan Currier, a 20-year-old sophomore majoring in criminal justice from Greenfield, N.H., said, "This school is really expensive and I am paying for it myself. I am getting help financial aid wise but I am not getting any help from my parents."

Currier has several jobs. "Depending on the semester I've got one to two work study jobs. I'm also getting drill pay from the National Guard and I work during the summer, at least one job; sometimes two."

He added, "I'm working this summer and through the school year to make sure I can pay for college. It's not leaving any money for cars or anything else."

Sarah DeBouter, a 19-year-old sophomore from Middlebury, Vt., majoring in English, said, "I go semester by semester, as in am I going to be able to come back next semester, because money is so tight. It's just my mom and I, but my mom doesn't work."

Brammer admitted, "I have to keep up a job in Jackman (Hall) in order to pay off some student loans that have already started (payments) before I've even graduated."

She stated that "I honestly am not quite sure (how to pay off these loans). I am going into the education profession so it's not like I am going into a big paying job."

Wright said, "I plan on (paying off the loans) probably with the job I will hopefully have after school. I'll start paying off all the debt that I am in."

Worrying about money can affect students' ability to do well in school.

Currier stated, "Directly (the jobs do not interfere with my academics), but the stress of having to worry about my finances definitely takes away my focus."

DeBouter agreed, "It's really stressful having to worry about whether or not you can afford college. If you go into the real world today often times you can't get a job unless you've been to college, and the thing that's hard about that is people can't always afford college."

Norwich's yearly increase is very similar to other colleges in the same category.

According to Trends in College Pricing 2010, the average annual increase for a "private nonprofit four-year" school is about 4.5 percent.

Norwich increases about 5 percent annually.

Wobby said, "The board of trustees has the ultimate responsibility to set tuition, but it's our job, at the administrative level, to put the tuition increase in front of them."

The trustees "can either say yes or no (to the proposed tuition) and they have said yes and they have said no," she explained. "They certainly are not just rubber stamping what the administration is suggesting."