College loan debt hobbles a generation of students

[PA Democrat]

Kelsey Griffith graduates today from Ohio Northern University. To start paying off her $120,000 in student debt, she is working two restaurant jobs and will soon give up her apartment to live with her parents. Her mother, who co-signed on the loans, is taking out a life insurance policy on her daughter.

With more than $1 trillion in student loans outstanding in this country, crippling debt is no longer confined to dropouts from for-profit colleges or graduate students who owe on many years of education, some of the overextended debtors in years past. Now nearly everyone pursuing a bachelor's degree is borrowing. As prices soar, a degree statistically remains a good lifetime investment, but it often comes with an unprecedented financial burden.

Ninety-four percent of students who earn a bachelor's degree borrow to pay for higher education -- up from 45 percent in 1993, according to an analysis by The New York Times of the latest data from the Department of Education. This includes loans from the federal government, private lenders and relatives.

For all borrowers, the average debt in 2011 was $23,300, with 10 percent owing more than $54,000 and 3 percent more than $100,000, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports. Average debt for bachelor degree graduates who took out loans ranges from under $10,000 at elite schools like Princeton University and Williams College, which have plenty of wealthy students and enormous endowments, to nearly $50,000 at some private colleges with less affluent students and less financial aid.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/us/college-loan-debt-hobbles-a-generation-of-students-635713/

[Brooklyn Dame]

1. Debt forgiveness for educational purposes is a start...

...but many don't want that idea to gain traction because they believe that education is a privilege and not a right. That's unfortunate because without access to education the nation will continue to slip when compared to our foreign peers.

http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2012/04/talkin-bout-my-generation-stop-bankrupting-our-future/

http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2012/04/forgive-me-please/


http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2012/04/rethinking-the-four-year-degree/

[Magoo48]

2. Cancel all student debt now! Subtract funds from war budgets...

[dkf]

3. This quote tells it all...

"I knew a private school would cost a lot of money. But when I graduate, I'm going to owe like $900 a month. No one told me that."

[dkf]

4. Hmm I wonder how much of this is due to for profit colleges.

"Leaders of the for-profit industry defended themselves, saying they were providing higher education for lower-class students that traditional colleges had left behind. "The reality is the type of students we attract have no other opportunity," said Steven Gunderson, head of a leading trade organization. "We are the ones that provide a path to the middle class.""

Maybe this is just another scam on the less fortunate and yet another example of industries that prey on them.

[PA Democrat]

5. There are some pretty sobering stats near the end of the article.

Students who attended for-profit schools are twice as likely to default on their loans.

Also graduation rates are much lower at the for-profit schools. Only 22% seeking a bachelor's degree succeed within 6 years compared to 65% at NONprofit private schools and 55% at public institutions.