In “The Rhetorical Situation,”
Lloyd Bitzer says, “rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to
a situation” (Bitzer 6). Today, more than seven in ten college seniors will
graduate with an average of $30,000 in student loan debt, which will only earn
interest and grow larger. Many students cannot catch up with their loans right
out of college and after the brief grace period, so they are forced to either
completely restructure their finances or face bankruptcy, neither of which are
appealing options. Even after that, the bad credit will stick with them for
decades to come. According to debt.org, a debt help service, more than seven
million Americans have already defaulted on these loans. This is the situation
that calls for rhetoric that promulgates both the benefits and dangers of
student loans, and why they may be right for some people, but deadly for
others.
The question that we are faced
with today, then, is: are student loans for college worth the stress, the
financial insecurity, and the possibility of utter ruin? Some would argue that
they are. Student loans do, after all, pay for your college education, which is
nearly essential for landing a decent job during the present economic climate.
But beyond that, many people cannot find another good reason to take out
student loan debt. For instance, US News claims that one of the advantages of
student loans is “the government provides free insurance, so your loans are
canceled if you are killed.” Unless it’s life insurance, nothing should have a
selling point that includes “if you are killed.” Although fewer people
recognize it, the dangers of student loans far outweigh the benefits. Forbes
recognizes student loans as some of the statistically hardest to pay off,
saying, “student loan debt has the highest amount of delinquent debt (debt that
has not made a payment in 90+ days) compared to all other forms of household
debt.” Unpaid student loan debt, according to financial expert Suze Orman, is
one of the biggest factors in America’s economic slowdown. So due to the
widespread nature of this problem, as well as the dangers to both the
individual and society, student loans provide an appropriate rhetorical
situation.
The audience, as well, reaches
far and wide. It certainly concerns those already deep in student loan debt,
and those about to graduate with debt, but it also concerns an almost
unsuspecting audience: us. As students about to enter college, we also face the
challenge of paying for said college. For some, this is not a problem, but for
others considering a student loan, a rhetorical discourse on the subject is
sorely needed. I have chosen the topic of student loans because of the mass
appeal and because of the imminent consequences of leaving such a subject
unattended.
