Student Loan Debt Crisis: A Case Study

“Ensuring quality higher education is one of the most important things we can do for our future generations” (Ron Lewis). There are more students enrolling in post-secondary schools than ever before and consequently there are more students acquiring large debts. Once a student graduates, they enter a $33,000 or more student loan debt (Students Loan Resources). These student loans continue to place graduates into large debts, which is largely caused by their lack of knowledge of available resources, and this impacts their everyday lives and future generations.

Student debt is a topic that generates a lot of debates. From politicians to lenders to students, everyone has an opinion on the topic. With a trillion dollar national debt, it’s not surprising why the topic is such a huge issue and the solutions are even greater. The student debt is a form of debt that is owed when a student has completed college or drop out. The average interest rates for the ungraduated and graduated are 4.45% to 6% (Quadlin). To pay off all the students’ debt, it will take 10-25 years to complete it. College students will have at least six months before they have to make the first payment. Student debts can be a real problem for those who aren’t preparing for them. Student loans debt should have a longer grace period, lower monthly payments and repayment programs that apply to all because students will be able to manage and repay their debts in a timely manner.

5. Base on class statistics 83 percent out of 16 percent thinks the government should forgive student loan debt once a student has completed college and has obtain a job in the field of study.

As a mother of four, a large number of the social problems described in the text can and does directly relate to myself, as well as, my family especially regarding the matter of education. However, the problem directly affecting my family and I is the emerging social problem of rising student loan debt. Student loan debt is a problem that has begun to seep into the very mainstream of society as more and more individuals attend college, especially those with great financial needs. Personally, I am lucky to say that I do not need to borrow money to attend IRSC which has been a major blessing that has allowed me to better my education. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about my husband, who graduated from Florida State University with student loan debts around $30,000 dollars. $30,000 dollars is a relatively average amount, according the Institute for College Access and Success(TICAS) 70% of college students graduate with student loan debt, with an average of $28,950. While this amount is overall average in our society, combined with the costs of raising four children, as well as, having only one working family member who makes a relatively low salary as a school teacher, it puts significant financial strain on my family. Rising student loan debt just doesn’t affect my family and I, it affects millions of Americans, especially those who are poor and cannot afford college. Rising student loan debt is a societal problem that is hampering millions of young Americans

On the first day of class, the professor showed a graph to illustrate how much wealth has deviated to the right most part of the curve. A question was then raised: what does it take to be in the top ten percent? Most students rushed to get their answers through, but none of them ever thought about their chances of being on the left side of the graph, a graph that depicts inequality of wealth in America. In “Who Got Rich Off The Student Debt Crisis”, James B. Steele and Lance Williams showed how the elites, like former Sallie Mae CEO Albert Lord, used money and lobbying to bring the government and school officials in their favor as they siphoned educational funds and retired like kings, and how it affected millions of lives of small people like Jessie Suren.

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.

As of 2016, the average college graduate owes thirty-seven thousand dollars in loans (Glum). As a whole, Americans owe a grand total of 1.3 trillion dollars. These are figures that grow every year, and worse, the number of people who are defaulting on their payments grows as well. The issue of the student loan crisis is serious, which is why potential solutions are now being discussed. Presidential candidates for the election of 2016 have discussed solutions that range from Hillary Clinton’s debt-free college plan to Bernie Sanders’ free tuition plan funded by taxing Wall Street, while numerous scholars and business intellectuals have suggested amending the bankruptcy code to allow for discharging student loans as a solution to the crisis (Josuweit). In this essay, I will primarily discuss the numerous but limited ways amending the bankruptcy code can alleviate the crisis, and then I will offer alternate solutions to supplement the aforementioned solution.

In the United States, it is generally accepted that college (or any form of higher education for that matter) is a wise investment that each and every individual should strive for. Each and every year thousands of parents open college funds and future investment plans to ensure that once their child is of age he or she can participate in quality educational programs. While college attendance rates are at a positive all-time high, right behind it follows an astounding $1.3 trillion dollars in student loan debt. Let’s face it, college is expensive, and it’s only getting worse. Could the outstanding quantity of student loan debt be the next national crisis?

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.

When individuals are in college, they are often blissfully of just how much student loan debt that they are racking up. When individuals graduate from college, they often have a high degree of sticker shock when they realize just how much student loan debt they have accrued. People are also of the mindset that there is nothing they can do with their student loan debt but pay for it. However, they are plenty of programs that individuals can use to pay off their student loan debt or even have it completely cancelled. The first step is simply to ask. Sometimes even asking the student loan servicer will help individuals to get their student loans debts cancelled or forgiven. Here are tips for working with your student loans:

student debt crisis has reached an all time high with debt reaching a total of 1.3 trillion dollars across the United States.With tuition cost increasing,lack of scholarships and unpaid back loans,student debt will continue to increase even higher.The enormous amount of debt put upon each student creates the inability of those students to help the economy grow.Our economy as we know it is a loop and decreasing the student debt significantly will help the economy grow.Instead of putting that money towards the government where it won 't be used to help decrease the student debt as we can see by the total debt, it should go to the community, such as purchasing homes,cars,consumer goods,sales tax which will help improve the economy even more.Crippling student debt is stifling the growth of the U.S. economy because it inhibits graduates from being able to spend money on consumer goods and home purchases. To alleviate this, lenders should be required to forgive student loans in cases where students are unable to repay their debts,decrease a cost of attendance,and increase scholarship opportunities from universities.Doing so would benefit the growth of the economy by increasing tax revenues, unfreezing credit markets, and creating jobs.

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

Marco Rubio has a plan for students. Since the 1980s, the student loan-debt burden has risen to $1.2 trillion, which is nondischargable, meaning that the debt could follow you for the rest of your life. States have cut education funding and in response, universities raised tuition. And it does not seem that politicians are taking any meaningful action to ameliorate this debt burden. Rubio wants businesses to invest in individual students and after graduation; the student “will pay a percentage of my salary over a defined period of time in return for that investment.” (The Wire)

Defaulting on student debt can cause companies to garnish their wages, social security, or lower the amount they receive as a tax refund. Plus, there are collection costs and additional interest costs that will add to the total cost of the debt which they will now owe in full. In extreme cases the government can even seize your assets to help pay off the loan balance.

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators included a large number of young adults ranging between the ages of 19 and 30 which was concern towards the issue regarding both undergraduate and graduate students have been buried with thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth of student loan debt on based on an education which is an essential basic human right. Many recent college graduates have been trapped with college loan debt, many example would include the stories of recent college graduates with either a bachelors or a master’s degree as well as drop outs due to expenses. Many of the OWS demonstrators that saw themselves as graduates and dropouts talked about how perusing their degrees put them in so much debt that eventually college was almost not