Overdue Student Loans Reach Record as U.S. Graduates Seek Jobs

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) Overdue student loans reached an all-time high as students struggle to find work after college, according to a government report renewing alarms about the rising burden of higher-education debt.

Eleven percent of student loans were seriously delinquent -- at least 90 days past due -- in the third quarter of 2012, compared with 6 percent in the first quarter of 2003, according to the report by the U.S. Education Department. Almost 30 percent of 20- to 24-year-olds aren’t employed or in school, the study found.

The research is being released amid concern in Congress and President Barack Obama’s administration about rising college costs and $1 trillion in outstanding student loans, the largest category of consumer debt besides mortgages. Borrowers say the burden is affecting their choice of jobs and their ability to buy homes and get married.

“Today’s economy puts young graduates in a difficult position,” Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which published the report, said in a statement. “A college diploma no longer guarantees a direct pathway to the middle class, making it harder to justify the expense of a degree.” ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-23/overdue-student-loans-reach-record-as-u-s-graduates-seek-jobs.html

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[n2doc]

2. Whomever stands up to the banksters and ends this scam will win the gratitude of millions

All it should take is treating Student Loans like any other debt.

[Puzzledtraveller]

3. I had used the GI Bill to go to school

but fell short, plus I was still very undecided even as a junior and that was when I was last in school around 1997. I have considred going back to finish but student loans is why I won't at this point. My grilfreind just graduated with her masters in education and has huge student loan debt and I heard on the radio this morning how our school district was going to have 60 less teachers and staff next year due to budget constraits. Scary. I work in social services and quite a few of my clients are grads with families who can't find the work they need to make some progress. They do work, but struggle to put food on the table, and provide medical insurance for their children. That's where I come in.

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. It is disgraceful that we setup a systems that.....

places those just entering the job market in bone crushing debt. In a good economy that would be counterproductive. In this economy it is evil.
All for the benefit of the few.....once again.

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. At the very least, the loans should be interest free and let....

the banks be satisfied with the interest they already collected.

[Pragdem]

7. We shouldn't subsidize degrees in areas with high unemployment.

Subsidizing useless degrees is not beneficial to the student or the country.

[marmar]

8. I say we stop subsidizing the finance, oil and pharmaceutical industries and make college free.

[Bonhomme Richard]

9. Think that through for a moment.

First, who decides what is a useless degree? The uneducated?
Second, is the value of education only defined by how much money you can make?
Third, if there are too many applicants for a particular field in 2013 and others are discouraged from going into that field then won't that create a shortage of applicants in 2020?
Fourth, maybe that student in the "useless" field is smart enough to make that field no longer useless or advance it to something else. Isn't that the point of education?

[datasuspect]

12. your statement is stupid

and has no validity whatsoever.

[Pragdem]

6. College degrees with the highest unemployment rates.

10. Economics
Unemployment rate: 9.4 percent
Starting pay: $48,000

9. Area Ethnic and Civilization Studies
Unemployment rate: 10.1 percent
Starting pay: $35,000

8. History
Unemployment rate: 10.2 percent
Starting pay: $32,000

7. Anthropology
Unemployment rate: 10.5 percent
Starting pay: $28,000

6. Philosophy and Religious Studies
Unemployment rate: 10.8 percent
Starting pay: $30,000

5. Information Systems
Unemployment rate: 11.7 percent
Starting pay: $43,000

4. Commercial Art and Graphic Design
Unemployment rate: 11.8 percent
Starting pay: $32,000

3. Fine Arts
Unemployment rate: 12.6 percent
Starting pay: $30,000

2. Film, Video and Photographic Arts
Unemployment rate: 12.9 percent
Starting pay: $30,000

1. Architecture
Unemployment rate: 13.9 percent
Starting pay: $36,000

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/05/15/10-college-majors-with-the-highest-unemployment-rates-infograph/

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. Just curious. What's your degree in? n/t

[Wednesdays]

11. Figures I'm in one of those categories

I'm not unemployed, but I am seriously underemployed. Postgraduate degree and barely cutting ten bucks an hour.