Students work hard to stay out of debt, away from loans

As excerpted on 7/10/98 from the Ogden Standard Examiner:

Jake Parkinson of Bountiful believes education is one of those things for which it's appropriate to go into debt.

"As an LDS (member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) youth, we're taught to avoid debt," Parkinson said. "But education is something worthy to go into debt for."

However, Parkinson doesn't plan to get a student loan to pay for his college education. At least, not yet.

"My basic goal is to get a four-year degree without taking out a loan," he said.

He's working 45 hours a week at Teleperformance, a telemarketing firm, this summer. He said he's putting that money away with some of it earmarked for missionary service and some of it intended to help him survive school at the University of Utah with only a part-time job.

Tanna Barry, who graduated from Fremont High this spring, is another Northern Utah teen who plans to attend college without the help of a student loan. Instead she is working four different part-time jobs. She works at Del Taco in Roy, Mervyn's in Layton, for Weber State's Signpost newspaper and for the Standard-Examiner.

"I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to be in debt," she said of her decision not to try to get a student loan.

"Money doesn't come easy," she said. "The church does teach avoiding debt. I just think it's a mistake to let yourself get carried away."

Clearfield High School graduate Angie Driggs has a scholarship which will pay for nearly all her expenses at Weber State. But she's still driven to work at Gordon's Copy Print in Layton and to work for another part-time job.

"I'm trying to earn some money to have put away in case I need it," she said. "I don't want to take out a loan. I'm afraid I'll get in over my head."

Driggs said she has seen classmates, both LDS and non- LDS, struggle with finances right after high school. So, she has made the decision to follow her parents' example and the teachings of her church.

"My parents rarely spend money they don't have," she said. "I guess my view is there are a lot of things you have to pay for. You have to decide what you can live with and what you can live without."

Latter-day Saints hear messages about the avoidance of debt over and over.

"It's so hard in this world to make it," said Scott Andersen, a seminary teacher at Fremont High. "You have to have a little help from Upstairs anyway."

Andersen said he counsels his students to work so they will learn responsibility. He also counsels them to pay their tithing first, noting, "Take care of God first and he'll take care of you."

Of course, LDS youth aren't the only ones who hear the message of debt avoidance from their leaders.

Catholic students at St. Joseph High School in Ogden also hear about the avoidance of debt from their church leaders.

"We try to teach the virtues of wise judgement, responsibility and self-discipline," said Judy Heasley, the school's director of development and community relations. She noted that classes in community service and social justice provide students with an opportunity to see what can happen when people don't use their financial resources wisely

All that teaching probably plays a role in Utah's ranking as one of the top states in student loan payback. The state is fifth nationally in that area.

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