On Oct. 9, representatives of Horace Mann Educators Corporation, Rob Curtis and Bradley alumnus Joe Chovan, came to Bradley to explain that school loans don’t have to be daunting, especially for mentors. The corporation is a company helping teachers and public service workers earn loan forgiveness.
“These are federal programs. We don’t have anything to do with it, but we help people become aware of the programs,” Chovan said. “We navigate through them. We help with the process.”
According to Forbes, students average $37,172 in student loan debt in 2016. For students with educational dream careers in mind, they’re faced with the harsh reality of the system in front of them.
“Teachers don’t really make that much money,” sophomore early childhood education major Alexi Corp said. “I’m worried about how I’m going to pay back all of [these loans] from school.”
Education funding this year was $59.9 billion, which was a 12 percent, or an $8 billion decrease from 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Education. With budget cuts, educators are resorting to paying for their own classroom supplies – which makes paying off debt just a little harder.
Corp, however, was one of the students that attended the Horace Mann event on how to erase student debt earlier.
The discussion was mostly aimed at senior education majors but is open to help anyone that wants to get educated on loan forgiveness options.
Another reason for the event was to give education majors hope that they’ll pay their loans off quicker, stay in their careers and even plan for retirement.
While a bachelors degree may be the minimum requirement for a teaching job, some students strive even higher with a masters or doctorate degree. However, this further drives the student debt up from $37,172 to $57,600 for graduate students, according to Forbes.
“My parents are paying for my bachelors degree, but for my masters degree, I have to pay for it,” said freshman education major Karissa Duran. “It’s a little nerve wracking.”
With the help from corporations like Horace Mann, future classroom mentors can stay in their field, no matter how much debt they put on. Chovan explains that people who want to have this career for their whole life should be able to keep it.
“We want to keep teachers in the classroom,” Chovan said. “Too many teachers are leaving the classroom. Sometimes it’s from burn out, or something else comes up, but a lot of the times it’s financial reasons. They just can’t afford to be teachers anymore.
According to Chovan, the corporation’s job is to save teachers money and one of the ways they do that is by helping them through student loans.
“We can take that off their plate and they feel like, ‘Phew, I can teach how I want to,’” Chovan said.
In some instances, educators have to work multiple jobs to support themselves or switch to better-paying careers. Sometimes they do this just to purchase materials for the classroom, which hurts them.
Despite all of this, there are still students who want to be mentors for future generations because of the passion or experiences they might have had while deciding their future.
“I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was little,” Corp said. “There’s a lot of educators in my family. I see them struggle with money sometimes, but they also tell me all the good stories they have [with teaching]. I want to do that.”
