APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – Financial Advisor Sarah Paulson said if student loan forgiveness would be extended to her clients it could change their financial future.

“A lot of them are still tackling this debt and it’s as much as a car payment for some of them so it really holds them back from living for today but also saving for their future which can be a huge problem 20, 30 years down the road,” said Paulson, the owner of Valkyrie Financial.

Some current college students agree – something needs to be done to help now and something needs to happen to stop more students from facing the student debt crisis.

Taylor Brzezinski, a UWO sophomore said, “We need to have better funding to make these places more accessible for students that can’t afford this because then you’re sitting in loans for 30 years.”

“There needs to be some kind of a middle ground of what are we forgiving vs what has been taken out as well as we need to fix the problem to begin with,” said Paulson.

Other financial advisors said keeping the cost down from the beginning is important.

Mark Vanderlinden, the President of Professional Financial Management said, “Maybe attending a local community college, one of the UW two-year campuses for the first two years of education to keep those much more affordable.”

He also warned there could be a downside to mass student loan forgiveness.

“I think we’re going to see another round of inflation. More people can afford to buy cars or appliances or remodel or build homes,” said Vanderlinden. “So there’s a dark side of something as proactive or feel-good of paying off students’ debt.”

These experts both said a key to this problem is educating students about the consequences of taking out large loans.