The Student Debt Crisis

MORRISVILLE, N.Y. -- Millions of American’s who made the choice to go to college in search of a better future now face debt that they may never be able to pay off. Americans hold a $1.3 Trillion debt.

Americans owed $447 billion 10 years ago, Forbes.com said. The student debt has tripled since then. Debt is forcing people to delay marriages, own homes and have children. The website said. These are the things that drive the economy and debt is making the usual milestones unreachable for college graduates, the White House said in a MarketWatch statement. The average student will owe $26,000 after graduation, said The Institute for College Access and Success, in a Forbes article. One in 10 graduates owes more than $40,000, the website said.

“I am a single mother of a child with a disability. I did my best to get a career so I could take care of him and help him through life and college but now I'm drowning in debt. We can barely live. Most of my check, if not all goes to rent and student loans. I can hardly breathe and I need to be ok so I can help my son. Why punish me for trying to be better,” a college graduate said in a studentdebtcrisis.org statement.

Not only is college debt forcing milestone delays but it is also affecting those who need to advance their careers to help their families. While you can make more money by earning a college degree the debt you acquire may outweigh the wage increase.

Student debt is now the second highest form of consumer debt in the United States and continues to rise, Forbes.Com said in an article. The debt accounts for six percent of the overall national debt which slows economic growth and with rising interest rates, capital is not as easy to access, the article said.

A survey put out to Facebook on Nov. 14 asked three questions to the large audience that is social media. Those questions being, where people attended college, how much debt they accumulated and how long they expect to be paying it off. A SUNY Morrisville alumni says she is $24,000 in debt and expects to be paying it off for the rest of her life. A Clarkson University graduate says he is $147,000 in debt and will have it paid off in seven years. He pays $2,000 a month which is more than required as a minimum but he wants it paid off sooner rather than later.

Many graduates live paycheck to paycheck after they are put into the real world. Student loans account, on average, for 25 percent of one's paycheck, studentdebtcrisis.org said in an article. Rent takes 33 percent and on top of those there are day to day expenses as well, gas, groceries, taxes, insurance, utilities, insurance and more. Raising a family and putting money away for retirement has become increasingly harder as well due to the student debt crisis, the article said.

“I am 34 years old and have been married for five years. We would love to have children but i’m so scared about finances it has made us wait. I don’t want to bring a child into the world when I cannot afford to feed and clothe them or pay for childcare,” a college graduate said in a studentdebtcrisis.org statement.

Seven in 10 graduates, 69 percent, who attended public and nonprofit colleges in 2013 had student loan debt averaging $28,400, projectonstudentdebt.org said in a statement. This was a two percent increase from 2012, the statement said.

The spring of 2017 there will be an estimated 2.8 million university graduates who will enter the workforce, just as America’s unemployment rate hit’s its lowest level in almost seven years, newsweek.com said in an article. Millennials face higher tuitions, as well as more competition when they enter the workforce. Graduates are being paid less than they are qualified for and they cannot pay off their debt. As of 2012 young men were being paid only 58 percent of the mean wage in America, Newsweek said.

Universities are having trouble reaching their enrollment goals but tuition is still unlikely to fall, newsweek.com said in an article. Birth rates are declining because graduates cannot afford to have children which will only make the declining enrollment worse. University enrollment is down 10 percent around the nation so there may be a chance in the future tuition will fall, the article said.

Work Cited:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/specialfeatures/2013/08/07/how-the-college-debt-is-crippling-students-parents-and-the-economy/#478bd081a418

http://ticas.org/search/google/posd%20OR%20homestate%20OR%20by%20OR%20state%20OR%20data?query=posd%20OR%20homestate%20OR%20by%20OR%20state%20OR%20data&cx=013241081249460064922%3A0p139ap_7os&cof=FORID%3A11&sitesearch=

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americas-growing-student-loan-debt-crisis-2016-01-15

http://studentdebtcrisis.org/read-student-debt-stories/

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/06/05/millennial-college-graduates-young-educated-jobless-335821.html

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