Lots of good answers here ...
On the one hand, I really care about these kids -- especially this little group with whom I was chatting yesterday. They're some of my favorite 2015 graduates, and when they asked me to "talk them through" how to get student loans ... I hated the question.
What I really wanted to say was, "You've all chosen to attend a 24K school, and you tell me that you can't afford it. Wouldn't you be better off -- while the opportunity still exists -- to choose a less expensive school?" But in situations like this, teachers aren't supposed to have opinions.
Ironically, one of them just had 2K worth of senior pictures made. She's a beautiful girl, and they are gorgeous pictures.
On the other hand, I really don't have the freedom in the curriculum to do full-fledged games, etc., though I agree that they'd be a good idea. I do use articles on student debt, etc. as non-fiction reading -- those always garner lots of comments. And while the ideas presented here are GOOD, some of them overstep my bounds as their classroom teacher.
When one of them commented that the payback for the student loans would be 1400/month, I did ask them how much they expected to make right out of school, and they were all a bit fuzzy. The girls in this small group (and I'm talking about three people) are all planning on the same major, and it is one that comes with a big salary ... however, I do have my doubts about their ability to make it in that major. They're all genuinely nice girls, but they're not taking AP classes. I strongly suspect they're all going to end up "downsizing" their majors to something a bit more ... accessible? I've talked to them -- gently -- about having a backup plan, but I can't say to them, "Look, you didn't make As in regular high school Chem, and I don't think you're going to be successful in this hard science major." The point: I fear they're assuming they're going to do well in this VERY tough major ... and they're assuming that they're going to have a BIG salary. At 17-18 years old, they will not believe otherwise.
I did talk to them about the life of a poor college student. I talked about having worked 2-3 jobs in college, and they had trouble believing that. I talked about working 3rd shift and working all night, then going straight to class. One even asked, "Are you allowed to have two jobs at once?" Naive. And I told them truthfully that I was MORE POOR in the first two years out of college than I was during college. I don't think they believed me. After all, college degree = money. Doesn't everyone know that?
No, I don't teach in a low-performing school. We do have a large percentage of free lunch kids, but we're actually one of the top-performing school districts for our state. I am right now teaching two classes of the lower level students in our school.
It hurts me to know that they're making choices that're going to make their lives hard later, and I'll talk to them about it -- but, if my previous years have taught me anything, I know they'll go right ahead and do what they're planning to do. And their parents are onboard with loans.
Finally, what was the name of that book that was recommend? I'm definitely going to read that myself.