5 Memes About Student Loans That Will Make You Laugh, Then Cry

By Alicia Geigel on September 24, 2017

Student loanscan’t live with ‘em and wish you could live without them. Unfortunately, for most of us, student loans are an inevitable and unavoidable aspect of the college experience. In present society, it has become increasingly more difficult to fund a college education without the addition of student loans.

According to James Dennin of Mic, “the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that 41 million Americans owe about $1.2 trillion in student loan debt and more alarmingly, more than a quarter of borrowers are delinquent on payments or in default.”

Scary, right?

What is even scarier is that we students have to start repaying our loans almost right after we graduate. Even though there is a “six-month grace period” after you graduate to prepare for repaying loans back, for some, this is not enough time to garner enough money. Even though this reality is slightly disturbing and unsettling, there is a large, unified community of students in the United States that all relate and empathize with one another on this issue.

We all acknowledge the battle of drowning in debt while trying to make a great life for ourselves by getting a college education, so what do we, millennials, do? We make memes — memes to make us feel better, to unify our common struggle, and to shed light on a significantly frightening situation. Are you currently in college or recently graduated? Considering graduate school or currently a grad student?

These five memes about student loans will not only put a smile on your face but also make you feel less alone in your struggle.

1. Old and still forking it up

Look at this cute old woman! At first glimpse, you are probably like wow, that old woman is trying to figure out technology; good for her. Wrong! That is you in 60 years still logging onto Navient to pay off your loans!

According to Abigail Hess of CNBC, “research from Citizens Financial Group suggests that 60 percent of student debt borrowers expect to pay off their loans in their 40s.”

While the student repayment plans of federal student loans suggest that you can pay back your loans in less than 10 years, research shows that it almost takes nearly double that for some. Yay to being 80 and still handing over money to pay off your debt!

memecrunch.com

2. Baby boomers

Oh, the memes about our parent’s generation being able to work a summer job and pay their tuition for the year. Doesn’t it just grind your gears? Well, the unfortunate reality of this meme is that it is rooted in a great deal of truth.

According to an analysis by GObankingrates, “the annual cost of a four-year public university has soared more than 3,700 percent since 1964.”

To put this gap in comparison, Cameron Huddleston notes that “the average tuition in 1982 at a public university in current dollars was $1,031 and $4,639 for a private college.”

Today, the average cost of tuition at a public university is $9,650 and for private, $24,930. So it turns out that yes, back in 1982 you most likely could have worked a summer job at McDonald’s and paid your tuition. If only that were still an option …

millennialmoneyman.com

3. Bill for existing

Regardless if you go to a public or private university, I think we can all agree on the ridiculous amount of fees that universities require students to pay. Fees are everywhere to haunt you, such as “orientation fees” to “senior and commencement fees” to fees for dropping a course.

According to Rochelle Sharpe of the New York Times, “Since 1999, mandatory fees have risen 30 percent more than tuition has, said Robert Kelchen, an assistant professor at Seton Hall University who has studied the issue. The average fee at four-year public colleges was almost $1,700 in 2015-16. That’s nearly 20 percent of the tuition and fee average.”

To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the fee list for universities started to look like this one from Spongebob — let’s hope not!

memeguy.com

4. Just let me cry

Jim Carrey pretty much sums up all of our feels when we log into our student loan accounts and see our balances and potential upcoming rates for repaying our debt. It just makes you want to cry and shudder in fear at the same time

imgflip.com

5. Chill with It

Hey, I promise I’m not including the “It the Clown” meme just because It was just released in theaters. It’s actually a pretty funny meme that I think all college students can relate to.

The point behind this meme is that students will do anything to get money or aid for education, even if that means going down that creepy hole to hang out with It, a murderous clown. Other memes similar to this one include the “Hit me car! Pay my tuition” which I’m sure you’ve heard at least one of your friends say at some point.

Long story short, students will do anything for some money for college, even if it puts them in harm’s way!

me.me 

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