Students are defaulting on their payments; it is estimated that defaults currently total as much as $85 billion.

We have a simple approach to this issue at Pacific Rim Christian University. We keep our tuition affordable. As noted above, the national average tuition for a four-year private university is $33,400 annually. The education at PacRim is $9,960 per year, or 30% of the national average.

A majority of our students receive financial aid. We work hard to assemble a package of financial assistance that includes grants, scholarships, student and parental contributions, student employment, and loans.

It was estimated that U.S. students graduating in the spring of 2016 owed an average of $37,173 each. Interest rates may be low, and payments can spread over time. Still, for a student starting o a new career, that’s a lot of money.

Our students typically graduate owing a lot less. We looked into our records regarding our graduates in the spring of 2016 and the spring of 2017 and focused on those who earned their Bachelor’s degrees after attending PacRim for four years. We are a small university, so the number of B.A. graduates came to 23 for the two years.

Those 23 students graduated owing an average of $12,937. That was way below the national average of $37,173.

Even more interesting is that 13 students—more than half of the group— graduated without owing any money. Only ten students borrowed money. A closer look indicated that the students who borrowed money were older, not 18-24-year-olds. Many of these older students came to PacRim with pre-existing obligations such as supporting families and paying mortgages. They borrowed money so they could continue to meet their obligations when they took take time off to get their degrees to continue to meet their obligations when they took

Our students are committed to serving the Lord in the ministry or the marketplace. We also know that they may not be called to jobs that pay high salaries. That’s why we think it is vital that they not be burdened by college debt. Fortunately, our records show that most of our students are graduating owing no money.

Your son or daughter doesn’t have to go deeply into debt to get a quality education. They can join us here at PacRim.

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