Student Debt Thesis

An education is one of the most important tools a person can acquire. It gives them the skills and abilities to obtain a job, earn a wage, and then use that wage to better their lives and the lives of their loved ones. However, due to the seemingly exponential increase in the costs of obtaining a college degree, students are either being driven away entirely from earning a degree or taking out student loans which cripple their financial prospects well after graduation. Without question, the increasing national student loan debt is one of the most pressing economic issues the United States is dealing with, as students who are debt ridden are not able to consume and invest in the economy. Therefore, many politicians and students are calling

The United States needs to look to other nations that have figured out the necessity of higher education to be at an affordable cost if not free. In 2015, college graduates are facing on average just north of $35,000 in student debt (Berman). In part, the government has reduced the federal funding that each college receives each year. Therefore, colleges have constantly raised the

Here in the United States, there are many forms of consumer debt, which help contribute to the large sums of debt countless Americans find themselves faced with. Directly effecting many college students is student loan debt. Student loan debt is now the second largest form of consumer debt behind housing” declares the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Grisales). This is due to the fact that student loan debt grew 7.1% in 2014 to $1.2 trillion (Grisales). If this statistic alone is not worrisome this next one is sure to be. The amount of debt in the housing market that helped to spark the last recession was only $1.3 trillion (Grisales). Due to the increased amount of debt required by students to attend college many students are feeling the wrath. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “In 2014, 11.7 percent of females and 17.7 percent of males between the ages 25 and 34 were living with their parents” (Grisales). The fear of obtaining massive amounts of debt is driving the current generation of student’s to put off many future hopes and dreams. While causing them to move back home to save money. The current student loan crisis is crippling the economy and ruining the lives of American students.

In 1976, the average cost to attend a four year public university was $2,175; today, the average cost to attend a four year public university is $25,000 (Snyder). This means it is 1150% more expensive to go to college in The United States today than it was 30 years ago. This obviously would create a problem on how we as people are going to pay for our higher education. Today college has become almost a necessity to have a satisfactory life, and with these rising prices some individuals believe student loans are the only option. There are many reasons as to why the prices have risen, but the one undeniable fact is that this has created a problem within our country. Which, is known as the student debt crisis, and it has been on the rise the past couple years. This problem is affecting people all around the United States, and is causing multitude of problems for them all because they wanted to pursue higher education. Wanting to better your opportunities by bettering yourself is not something that needs to be punished, and sadly that is what is happening. This problem is something that needs to be fixed for the sake of Americans and our economy, but will also take time and a multitude of steps to correct.

Throughout the United States, student loans have been show to drag this economy down. Student loans have been a big problem through many of the years. It has been showing a trend and it is raising and exceeding many of the debt types each year. Many problems that students that have loans cause are, “ 20 percent of respondents indicated they cannot get a loan for other items, are unable to purchase a home, and student loan debt negatively impacts their credit. 18 percent of individuals indicated they are living paycheck to paycheck, “drowning” in debt, and have a large debt load. 13 percent indicated they have a lower quality of life and are unable to afford the extra things. 12 percent indicated they are unable to save for their retirement or their children’s education and feel less secure.” Students that have

Students High in Debts Crisis "The only good thing about student loans is that the day I die my children will not have to pay for them” (Block). The problem with everyone not being able to go to college is the cost of it. Many High school graduates don’t even think about going to college because of how crazy expensive it is. Many students drop outs later on due to not being able to keep paying and the ones who do graduates struggle in paying off their student loans for years.

In America today, the student loan debt crisis has reached an astonishing 1.2 trillion dollars in debt, making it the second largest source of debt in the United States, according to forbes.com. This is due to the cut to funding colleges, which used to be 7,000 dollars for each student and after 15 years is now 4,000 dollars for each student. There are solutions that could unquestionably lower student loan debt: colleges could stop competing to have more useless luxuries, take a certain percent out of the students income until it is paid off, and more of students’ parents could take the loan and not their child. While there is no perfect solution to make this problem go away (that we know of), there are ways we can lower the astounding amount of student debt in America today, even if it is just a small piece of it.

In 2016, college grads graduated with an average of $37,172 in student loan debt. This is a 6% increase from the previous year, and the rates increase as colleges become more expensive. Going to a University or College is looked upon as a luxury or a privilege nowadays. Good paying jobs that supply good living standards are requiring at least a bachelor’s degree to be considered for hiring. Any persons, including college students, should not be forced to live with, be pressured by, or be under the control of student loan debt. Student loan debt has been proven to have an impact on a person’s mental health. It keeps the less fortunate from having a chance to prosper in a competitive workforce, and the system that provides financial aid (FAFSA) doesn’t always meet a person’s needs completely. College should be an earned right for those who have stuck through the education process as an adolescent.

Higher education comes at an extremely high price. The excitement of graduating college to land the six-figure job is soon destroyed when students realize how much debt they’ve obtained. Dreams of owning a house and starting a family are shattered by the money borrowed to provide and guarantee students an excellent future. Instead of waiting to land the ideal job, students work multiple jobs to help ends meet. Struggling to stay afloat, millions of students become victims of one of the major economic crisis in the United States today; Student debt.

I think college student loan debt raises serious concerns for students and makes them worried about their future. College student loan debt in USA is at an all-time high and it has increased over time. The number of students requiring financial aid and student loans has increased as well. Majority of college students get loans to pay for their higher education, and the demand is increasing because college tuition cost is increasing. Most of the U.S. college four-year undergraduate students graduate with some level of debt. Most of those students may not know the problem they will face after graduation to pay back college loan. Some students may know that they will be in deep debt by the time they graduate,

Student debt is an increasing problem in the American education system. As the times keep changing one thing becomes clearer and clearer: going to college is becoming less and less of a choice for recently graduated high school students. Unfortunately for us students that also means by the time we graduate we will have thousands of dollars in student loans to pay off when we are trying to start fresh in our new jobs. According to a story reported by the Daily News, approximately 70 percent of college students owe around 30,000 dollars by the time they graduate. This number

These loans are a growing crisis, having “quadrupled since 2004 to just under $1.2 trillion” (Gorman). At the projected rate, the student debt crisis will continue to rise if the focus of funding higher education remains on loans and not federal or state grants. Without reform on policies that help decrease college prices, the student loan debt crisis will continue to grow and further disadvantage the socioeconomic standing of people who seek the most financial aid.

In the United States today, the number of students graduating college with student loan debt is quite astonishing. In the article titled, “How the $1.2 Trillion College Debt Crisis Is Crippling Students, Parents And The Economy”, we will examine and break down the student loan debt crisis by the numbers. Today, almost two-third’s of students graduating college are graduating with an average of $26,000 in debt. For most students, $26,000 is a lot of money when the average annual income for a first year graduate is only in the mid $40,000 a year range. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, student loan debt has reached a new milestone, crossing the $1.2 trillion mark (Denhart, 2013, Introduction, par. 2). With student loan debt levels

The cost of tuition at colleges and universities in the United States has seen a steady increase over last several decades. Since the 1980s, the list price for tuition has risen by roughly 7% per year, while the inflation rate has averaged 3.2% per year. The effect of this mismatch in the rise of the cost of tuition versus the average inflation rate has had monumental effects on the ability of students to afford a higher education. This, in turn, has forced more students to take out increasingly large amounts of loans, causing for the national student loan debt to grow to over $1 trillion dollars, more than total credit card

American youth have more pressure to get a good education than ever before, but at what price? The cost of education is at an all time high and rising every year. Many Americans are struggling with a large amount of student loan debt weather they graduated with a degree or not. The only way to secure the future of students today is to invest in the students themselves rather than investing their money into the corporate market. By preparing students for higher education and providing financial resources students will have the knowledge to deal with student loans and the debt they may be accruing while in school.