69th chat, Tuesday November 1: academic libraries & the student loan crisis

Moderated by @kevinseeber @modbrarian @beccakatherine
Storify (pdf, html) by @violetbfox

Suggested readings:

• A Look at the Shocking Student Loan Debt Statistics for 2016. Student Loan Hero, 2016: https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/
• The Man Who Shed Light on Why College Keeps Getting More Expensive. NPR Education, Oct. 25 2016: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/10/25/498838755/the-man-who-shed-light-on-why-college-keeps-getting-more-expensive
• Fancy Dorms Aren’t the Main Reason Tuition is Skyrocketing. FiveThirtyEight blog, Sept. 13 2016: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fancy-dorms-arent-the-main-reason-tuition-is-skyrocketing/

Discussion questions:

• Q1. How is the student loan crisis affecting you, your library, and/or your campus? #critlib
• Q2. What programming/resources are libraries providing to address the student loan crisis? What else could we be doing? #critlib
• Q3. Many factors in higher ed have contributed to the present situation. In what ways, if any, are academic libraries implicated? #critlib
• Q4. Speaking of loans, what can libraries, librarians, and grad programs do about reducing the cost of an MLIS? #critlib

Jargon/abbreviations:

This is a list of terms the moderators anticipate might come up during the chat, though it is not exhaustive. If someone uses an abbreviation or term you don’t understand, we encourage you to ask that person, or a moderator, for a clarification.

• DOE: Referring to the U.S. Department of Education, which issues a large number of student loans.
• Financial Literacy: An understanding of how money works, including concepts connected to borrowing, including interest rates and repayment plans.
• FA or FinAid: Referring to Financial Aid, both the general concept of providing money to students attending college, as well as offices of Financial Aid on college campuses.
• OER: Shorthand for “open educational resources.” These are often no-cost-to-the-student online materials designed to supplement or replace textbooks.
• OA: Shorthand for “open access.” Typically describes individual articles, as well as whole journals, that made available online at no cost to the reader.
• Ss: Shorthand for “students.” (Because abbreviating it as “studs” would be kind of creepy.)