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Thursday, July 3, 2014
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Student debt burdens NIU graduates, students struggle with average $30K tab
Developer tears down Sawyer Auto Imports site Mulling building eatery on Lincoln Highway land By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Nick Valdez, 21, fills an order Thursday at Dunkin Donuts in DeKalb. Valdez is taking time off from his studies at Northern Illinois University to work and save money to pay for school.
Student loan debt by the numbers
I can’t afford a mortgage right now. My student loans are too high.”
By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Northern Illinois University alumnus John Vanderford expects to spend a decade or more paying off $50,000 in student loans he started repaying after graduating about three years ago. Vanderford, a 30-year-old engineer at a microelectronics lab in Cleveland, pays about $700 a month and already has paid about $10,000 of what he owes. He rents a duplex with his wife and 5-month-old daughter. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in 2007 and master’s degree in 2011, both in electrical engineering, Vanderford thought he would have been a homeowner by now. Even though he said housing prices in Cleveland are reasonable, he can’t juggle paying student loans on top of other bills he is paying. “I can’t afford a mortgage right now,” he said. “My student loans are too high.” Many NIU graduates are in the same boat as Vanderford. A report from The Project on Student Debt, an initiative of
Average debt for bachelor’s degree recipients with student loan debt in 2012:
John Vanderford Northern Illinois University alumnus
the nonprofit organization Institute for College Access and Success, shows the average debt of NIU graduates in 2012 was $30,521. The report also said 72 percent of NIU grads had debt in 2012, while the total cost of attending the university for the 2011-12 academic year was $27,360. The 2012 report shows average NIU debt is slightly higher than the state and national average debt levels. The state of Illinois’ average debt is $28,028 a student while the average is $29,400 nationally. The report only included students who received bachelor’s degrees. For some, debt affects graduates well after graduation. Shelley Rhoades, a mortgage loan officer at Castle Bank branches in DeKalb and Sycamore for 15 years, said student loan debt does not only affect first-time home buyers, but
n Eastern Illinois University: $28,575 n Illinois State University: $27,910 n Northern Illinois University:
also people who are years into their careers. She said banks offer different mortgage programs based on what people can afford. For example, a bank will try to configure a specific mortgage plan for someone based on the monthly payments they make on student loans. People whose entire debt exceeds 45 percent of their monthly gross income face a higher risk of being denied, she said. “Usually credit card debt and student loans, a combination of all debt, can be a problem,” Rhoades said. There is help for people who are struggling with student loans. The U.S. Department of Education has a list of resources, including companies that consolidate all loans, deferment and different
See STUDENT LOANS, page A5
$30,521 n University of Illinois at Chicago: $22,256 n University of Illinois at Springfield: $21,057 n University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: $24,657 Western Illinois University: $24,993
DeKALB – Merle Sawyer was unfazed by watching the walls being torn down from the buildings that housed their family business for about 80 years. “It doesn’t bother me,” Merle Sawyer, 93, said about the demolition of the former Sawyer Auto Imports buildings at 460 E. Lincoln Highway. “In a way, it’s probably a good thing. I hate to see it sitting empty.” The buildings near downtown DeKalb are being demolished to make way for a quick-service restaurant or a convenience store. Demolition started Monday and will raze all three buildings along Lincoln Highway within the next week, said new owner Dipak Patel. Patel bought the buildings two years ago with plans to tear them down and build a Subway restaurant. Patel owns the Subway at 928 W. Lincoln Highway near Northern Illinois University. While his plans for putting in a Subway have wavered, he still sees the space as a prime spot for a small quick-service eatery. He said he would be open to other businesses, such as a Starbucks, building there. “We don’t have any plans at this moment, but you never know,” Patel said. “With the McDonald’s across the street, we thought it would be good for another restaurant.” He expects that after creating some space for parking, the property would fit a 5,000-square-foot building. A business plan should be in place by the end of the year, he said. Mark Sawyer, 62, who ran the business from 1975 until 2002, said he knew the buildings wouldn’t last forever. Although he is somewhat emotionally attached to the buildings because his family operated Sawyer Auto Imports from the 1920s until Brian Bemis bought it in 2002, he understands making room for something new.
See SAWYER AUTO, page A3
Portion of graduates with student loan debt in 2012: n Eastern Illinois University: 72
percent n Illinois State University: 67 percent n Northern Illinois University: 72 percent n University of Illinois at Chicago: 64 percent n University of Illinois at Springfield: 67 percent n University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: 52 percent n Western Illinois University: 73 Percent
Source: The Project on Student Debt
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Crews work to demolish the former Sawyer Auto Imports building on the corner of Lincoln Highway and South Fifth Street on Wednesday in DeKalb.
32 states lag behind in overall job recovery in United States By PAUL WISEMAN
AP photo
An oil truck sits in a dirt lot near a new housing development Feb. 26 in Watford City, N.D. The housing development is part of the town’s growth explosion from the Bakken oil boom.
Florida is down 170,000 in the aftermath of its real estate market collapse. How are you doing financially The sluggish job market compared with the beginning of could weigh on voters in some the Great Recession in December key states when they go to the 2007? Vote online at Daily-Chron- polls this fall. A Quinnipiac icle.com. University poll out Wednesday found that voters named the economy by far the biggest – evidence of the unevenness problem facing the United and persistently slow pace of States. The states where hiring the recovery. Even though economists lags the most tend to be those declared the recession over that were hit most painfully in June 2009, Illinois still is by the recession: They lost so down 184,000 jobs from pre-re- many jobs that they’ve strugcession levels. New Jersey is gled to replace them all. Nevada, which suffered a down 147,000. Both states were hurt by layoffs at factories. spectacular real estate bust
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The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Five years after the Great Recession officially ended, most states still haven’t regained all the jobs they lost, even though the nation as a whole has. In May, the overall economy finally recovered all 9 million jobs that vanished in the worst downturn since the 1930s. Another month of solid hiring is expected in the U.S. jobs report for June that will be released Thursday. Yet 32 states still have fewer jobs than when the recession began in December 2007
and four years of double-digit unemployment – has fared worst. It has 6 percent fewer jobs than it did in December 2007. Arizona, also slammed by the housing collapse, is 5 percent short. By contrast, an energy boom has lifted several states to the top of job creation rankings. “North Dakota is the No. 1 example,” said Dan White, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics. “It’s like its own little gold rush.” North Dakota has added 100,000 jobs since December
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
A2 A3-4 A4
National and world news Opinions Sports
See JOBS, page A5
Weather A2, 5 A7 B1-4
Advice Comics Classified
C6 C5 D1-4
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54