Student debt surpassed $1 trillion four years ago today. Here’s why it’s still growing

[marmar]

(MarketWatch) Student loans have become a $1 trillion problem in the popular imagination. But it wasn’t always this way.

Student debt activists mark April 25, 2012 as the day when total outstanding student loans in the U.S. hit $1 trillion. (Total outstanding student loan debt surpassed $1 trillion in the second quarter of 2012, — which includes April, — according to the Federal Reserve).

On that day, college students and others took to the streets to call attention to the ways in which student debt was affecting their ability to complete college or secure the trappings of a middle-class life once they graduate. Ever since, activists have used April 25 and the week surrounding it as an opportunity to keep a spotlight on those issues. This year, events include Twitter chats, webinars, and the announcement of a student loan help hotline.



“One trillion dollars is such a big number by itself, it really highlights the need for elected leaders to take student debt seriously not just as an issue for young people but for the economy as a whole,” said Maggie Thompson, the executive director of Generation Progress, a youth-focused activist arm of the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. .............(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/student-debt-surpassed-1-trillion-four-years-ago-today-heres-why-its-still-growing-2016-04-25

[redstateblues]

1. Why would someone borrow $100000 to get a BA in

English Lit or some other degree that is not worth much in the job market. I scrimped and saved so my daughter could commute to an affordable public university. She would have preferred a 40K per year college but I would not cosign for that madness

[haele]

2. Depends on your degree.

In California, a Bachelor's in Science or any of the higher paying "arts" (like business or any of the medical focused degrees) will have all sorts of fees added to the core classes that the cost for a "resident" student without a scholarship or grant could still end up paying $30 - $70k for the degree - even if they didn't live on campus and took most of the 100 and 200 level general courses at a local CC.
Non-profit private schools can be cheaper than a state university for some degrees.
Some people will tell you if your kid can't qualify for a grant or scholarship, they should settle for a tech school or go without a degree, but a lot of times, the ability to get grants or scholarships is based strictly on luck, who is advising your kid, or what school accepts him or her due to the amount of seats available that year.

Haele

[bhikkhu]

3. I thought they might have mentioned the big rise in college attendance rates

which have gone from about 47% when I was a kid to over 70% now. That's a pretty big increase in people going to college. Costs are of course the big story, but a significant increase in the number of students is worth mentioning as well.

I think it bodes well for our future, to have such an educated workforce coming up. On the other hand, I worrythat it will be a whole generation saddled with "debt that no honest man can pay", to use Springsteen's line.