Student Loan Debt Is A Financial Crisis

Problems in the student loan market are not just harming students but are also exacerbating problems with the United States’ recovery from the Great Recession. New York Federal Reserve Bank data has found that outstanding student debt topped $1 trillion in the third quarter of 2013, and the share of loans delinquent 90 days or more rose to 11.8 percent. Furthermore, the share of 25-year-old Americans with student debt increased to 43 percent in 2012 from 25 percent in 2003, while the average loan balance rose 91 percent, to $20,326 from $10,649 (Gage and Lorin). More than 40 million Americans are in student loan debt and because of this, more than 40 million Americans are not able to stimulate the economy as they are not able to buy houses or cars, or start businesses or families (Applebaum). In Wisconsin alone, student loan debt has resulted in a loss of over $200 million annually from new car purchases, while also resulting in middle class households with student loan debt overwhelmingly renting homes instead of owning them (Vanegeren).

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.

Although many people are considering student loan debt to be a national crisis, we must understand the reality behind it. Unfortunately not everyone is fortunate enough to make it through college without accumulating debt. In Robin Wilson’s essay, “A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely”, she makes a compelling argument that shows how students get involved with really high debt. She claims, “…the problem among students who go heavily into debt is that they are determined to attend their dream college, no matter what the cost (257).” It is a true statement because students want to turn their dream into a reality. All students can reach their goal of attending a dream college by first choosing a community college in order to decrease the amount of student loans.

College debt has risen significantly since “The Great Recession” in 2009. Due to the high college fees, students are faced with lifelong debt. If the rise continues, only the rich will be able to obtain a higher education, resulting in American education to take several steps backwards instead of improving. Although many have tried to fix college debt problem, it has mostly gone unnoticed. Specifically targeting the nation’s youth, college debt is destroying the chances of the lasting effects on the economy from fully recovering.

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.

In fact, in the past, even if you were a college graduate, you were considered to be in the minority of the society; however, today, a college degree is fundamentally a requirement for any majority of careers. As the need for a college degree increased, the less affordable it became, therefore, student loans became a must. Although student loans do help students with a higher education, they can also get those individuals into tons of debt. Even though we can all benefit from a college education, the future looks pretty barren for those with student loans. The future of college tuition, and in another word, student loan; seems to be going only up with no release in sight. In order to get a better understanding of why, this might be a good time to look back at when the first federal student loan and grant programs were established and how it has fueled the rising tuition costs.

There is a critical financial trend in the United States: student debt is at an all-time high. For the first time in mid- 2013, student debt rose to 830 billion, surpassing the credit-card debt (Clemmitt). Many economists and scholars compare the student debt crisis to the housing bubble, which resulted in a nationwide recession 2008. In a senate hearing regarding the current student debt crisis, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said, “The warning signs are there, just like they were before the housing crisis, and congress needs to act before it is too late” (Bidwell). After graduation, many students find it difficult to repay their debt, due to the bleak job market. According to a report published on the financial website Smart money, ten percent student loans borrowers defaulted in 2010 (Clemmitt). The percent was larger for students that attended a for-profit educational institution, like a career college; fifteen percent of these students defaulted (Clemmitt). Although the default rates do not contribute to the increasing student debt, one can compare it to the mortgage crisis when people stopped paying their mortgages and the American economy crashed. This exemplifies the critical problem that the student debt bubble if burst; it can have devastating impacts on the vulnerable American economy. Three causes for the increase in student debt are due to recent trends in college attendance, the increase of for-profit colleges and the rise of tuition due to spending

Student Loan Debt Isn’t A Myth,” it describes how student loans are a huge crisis, and the

Average student debt keeps steadily increasing. Student loan debt is increasing because government grants and support for postsecondary education have failed to keep pace with increases in college costs. The government no longer carries its fair share of college costs; so much of the burden of paying for college is put on families. Even though the government gets a big increase in income tax revenue from college graduates, students still have to worry about how they will off their loans (Kantrowiz).

An estimated 20 million Americans attend college each year, and 60% of those students borrow annually to pay for it (qtd. in asa.org, “Student Loan Debt Statistics”). Moreover, citizens continuing to pay off debt after schooling brings the overall number of student-loan-borrowers to about 40 million- with a collective 1 trillion dollars in debt (McCarthy, “10 Fun Facts About the Student Debt Crisis); a fourth of these borrowers owe over $28,000, a tenth owe over $54,000, 3.1% owe more than $100,000, “and 0.45 percent of borrowers, or 167,000 people, owe more than $200,000” (Haughwout, “Grading Student Loans”). While some view this predicament as the result of laziness or carelessness, the bulk of this substantial group are not at fault.

College, originally deemed as the pointer to guaranteed employment, financial stability, and an indicator of success, has been declared in jeopardy. Topping the credit card debt and many household debts, the student loan debt has been pronounced the next potential financial disaster in the U.S. With 2014’s numbers currently exceeding $1.2 trillion, the debt figures have reached about twice of 2007’s remaining debt (Akers, 2014). Gone are the days when a parent could send a child to the state university to study their interests and finish off with a job offer, ensuring a respectable future. The average balance for a 2014 college graduate is $32,500, which will be dragging out of not only themselves but also their families (Rajan, 2014).

Student loan debt in the United States is expanding unrestricted each year. There are 36 million Americans today, holding over $740 billion dollars in student loan debt. (U.S. 2013) The current student loan system is intended to open doors to economic prosperity for those who could not otherwise afford to go to college. Research suggests that the unintended consequence of too much available student credit is real people losing prosperity and languishing in debt for extended periods of their lives. Reducing or eliminating the availability of student loans would have a tremendous impact on improving the lives of Americans. If things continue the way they are now, American’s will soon find college, and its implied ticket to economic

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