Why A Special Circle Of Student Loan Hell Is Reserved For College Dropouts

Just in case it wasn't already bad enough to be a recent Millennial college graduate in the US with tens of thousands in student debt (recall that of those lucky enough to have a job after graduation, roughly half live paycheck to paycheck; as for those without a job, well... our condolences), it turns out there is a special circle in student loan hell reserved for those who never manage to graduate. Because as Bloomberg reports, when it comes to collecting on student loans, the U.S. Department of Education treats college dropouts the same as Ivy League graduates: They just want the money back.

But that's only part of the bad news. It will come as no surprise that when it comes to wage potential, dropouts are in a category of their own. The dead last category. Unlike peers who earn degrees, dropouts generally don't command higher wages after leaving school, making it harder for them to repay their student debt. The typical college dropout experienced a steep fall in wealth from 2010 to 2013, figures from the Federal Reserve in Washington show, and an 11 percent drop in income—the sharpest decline among any group in America.

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