Testing the Hypothesis

It has been very interesting to begin the process of identifying opportunities around me. I have learned a lot about myself as well as my environment by thinking of these problems and how they can potentially be solved. With that being said, there is one opportunity that strikes home with me and I believe with many people around me.
College students all across America, and specifically here in Gainesville, are graduating college with more student loan debt than ever before. Aside from the fact that college tuition is incrementally rising each year, this is happening because there is too little education taking place about the process of student loans and the various options that these students have entering higher education.
Who: College students and high school seniors getting ready to go to college.
What: More student loan debt upon graduation than ever before.
Why: There is not enough systematic education of the details and process of student loans including federal student loans, private student loans, as well as outside options for funding like grants and scholarships.
Testing the Who: At first, it is easy to think very broad about the audience that this opportunity is affecting. By diving deeper, I realize that my scope can be narrowed and focused more on more specific groups of college students. Maybe there are certain universities that have higher rates of student debt per capita. Also, there may be particular groups of students that come from particular high school districts that end up owing more money after graduation. I think there is a great opportunity here to do research to figure out exactly who to target in the beginning before widening the scope.
Testing the What: This is where I need to ask the question, "are all students who have large amounts of student debt after graduation uneducated about the topic?" In many cases, it may be true where students willingly and knowingly take on large sums of student debt because there cost-benefit-analysis of getting there degree was a conscious decision. I think this is what I may find in some of my interviews. Personally, I am willingly taking on student debt to get a degree from the University of Florida.
Testing the Why: This is similar to what I mentioned earlier, but do all of these students have a lack of education when it comes to student loans and finances? Does a certain portion of students have a little bit of knowledge regarding the subject? Are there certain services that have proven to be helpful for students? These are the questions that need to be answered through interviewing as well as research.
Interviews Conclusion: I went on campus and asked a few different people to speak with me about this topic. It was not very difficult to find 5 people that were taking out student loans and were willing to share their knowledge on their particular situations. Some examples of the questions I asked were, "How long have you been in school/needing to take out student loans?" "Are you aware of certain factors such as interest rates and payback periods?" "How much do you expect your total student debt amount to be after graduation?" "What kind of assistance have you received regarding financial aid and student loans?" "Have you explored/heard of different student loan options?"
The results I got from these interviews were actually more varied than I was expecting, so it came as a surprise. In general, it seemed as if the students I talked to had a solid idea of what would happen to their total student debt as time went on. Not to my surprise, most of the students I talked to were not aware of other options that are different than borrowing money from the federal government. This is where I believe the opportunity exists the most. It was very interesting to hear from these students and I feel I was able to strengthen my view of this opportunity and how I can move forward with it.