U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio announced his plan for student-loan reform at a campaign event in Iowa.
The program, titled “Student Right to Know Before You Go Act,” requires colleges to inform students and parents about how much money students will make with their chosen degrees from that school before they take out loans, “so people can decide whether it’s worth borrowing tens of thousands of dollars to major in basket weaving,” Rubio said at the campaign event.
Such reform will allow young Americans to choose a major that provides them a steady job when they graduate, which will stimulate economic growth, Rubio said.
However, the financial advising office at UF already does a lot of outreach for students, especially for incoming freshmen at Preview, said Donna Kolb, the senior associate director of the office for student financial affairs.
“One of our financial aid advisers represents our office at Preview and informs the students about all the financial options they have,” Kolb said.
Most of the time when students come to the office and ask about repaying student loans, they’re seniors in college, Kolb said.
Some UF students agree that more information and advice before taking out a loan would be beneficial.
“I didn’t really receive any advice about taking out my student loan except for a bunch of online information,” said Andrew Rañon, 22, a fifth-year industrial and systems engineering student at UF.
Like other students at UF, Rañon took the first two years of college to figure out his desired major.
Once he chose a major, he received very limited advising on his chosen career path.
Although Rubio’s plan consists of college advisers informing students about their career decisions, high school advisers could also be a part of this process.
Instead of giving advice on what major to choose or whether a student may need financial assistance during college, “all the focus is on getting you out of high school,” Rañon said about high school counselors.
Students have to do their own work when picking a major, said 21-year-old Caroline Collins, a UF health education and behavior senior.
Like many other students who switch majors in college, both Rañon and Collins recall how easy it was to change their majors at UF.
The advisers tell students, “‘You can do whatever you want,’ which is kind of not true,” Collins said.
