At the beginning of August, something extraordinary happened that is going to have an impact on the future of our nation’s people, including high school students. For the first time in history, our country’s credit rating was downgraded from AAA to AA, by S&P – Standard & Poor’s, is an independent financial agency that analyzes stocks, bonds, and international markets. S&P can relate this information to the public in different ways; the most common is in the form of credit ratings, which is how the American downgrade was presented. Basically, when they lower or raise a credit ratings, especially that of a country, it is a pretty big deal.
When S&P lowered America’s credit rating, it showed the world, as well as America, that S&P isn’t thinking too highly of our country right now –namely, the government. Even though the switch from AAA to AA is seemingly small, it really isn’t. In simple terms, it means that America as a country is slowly losing its reliability to pay off debts and other expenses, especially as we are already in debt. What we need is a solution to this problem, or else the country is at risk of another downgrade. This will present several problems for those in the stock market, government, but especially for average U.S. citizens, like students.
That being said, we now turn to how it is going to affect us. While we are not seeing the immediate effects it will eventually impact us. Seniors are going to begin to feel the effects of the credit downgrade come springtime, when they are heading off to college. The problems lay in the way of applying for student loans and paying tuition. Current federal student loans are going to be unaffected for the most part, since they have a fixed interest rating; however it is possible that future federal loans will not be unaffected, and their rating will also go up. Private student loans are another matter, for they are very likely to have an increased interest rating. Subsequently, students will be paying more money in interest on their student loans.
Know that this is real. This is going to happen, and we all are going to be affected by it, whether we like it or not. Seniors will be affected quicker than the juniors and sophomores, but in the end, we’re all going to face it. Student loans are going to be the kicker, because, though some of us may be able to spend the money to go to college and get a higher education, we will be in debt for a long time. Some of us may not be able to go to college at all, because it’s just too expensive. Similarly, if we are in debt after college, our generation won’t be able to participate in boosting the economy, which might lead to a bigger crash and more problems, that can seriously impact the future of many students.
