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Monday, March 19, 2012

Student Loan Debt: The Next Time Bomb?

While consumers have paid down credit card balances and other debts in recent years, there's one area where they continue to borrow heavily: student loans.

People affected by growing student loan debt are sounding alarms, and no wonder. Look at the numbers. According to data from the Federal Reserve:

  • Student loan balances now stand at about $870 billion, an amount that has surpassed total credit card balances ($693 billion) and total auto loan balances ($730 billion).
  • The average outstanding student loan balance per borrower is $23,300.
  • About 37 million Americans owe money on student loans.
  • Almost 10 percent of student loans -- $85 billion worth -- are delinquent, and the Feds fear that number may be understated.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

$23K to be paid over 10 years is not a huge burden if you budget according to your actual salary. Things like an expensive data plan for your phone, a brand new car, housing you can barely afford, premium cable etc have to be put off until your salary can absorb the extra. Try explaining that to young people who have grown accustomed to instant gratification.

Anonymous said...

When you reaqlly think about it, the idea that you need to take out a huge loan to pay for a college education is absurd.
Just look at some of the endowments for major universities like Harvard. $34 billion in the bank

Anonymous said...

When was the last time you people looked at how much a college costs to attend? @ 2:41 the problem is not earnining enough money to pay back the loans, it is finding a job to have any money to pay back the loans. College tution is at its highest rate today and continuously increases. That doesn't matter to you. What matters is what you get in your pocket. I am tired of hearing people complain about college students not paying back debt blah blah, it is because you all ruined this country 10-15 years ago and the economy now must suffer. Did you know by the time the recent college graduates get to be 60+ there will be no social security? But lets just put that on the backs of the college kids who are being sold this BS of hope for earning a better salary to go spend tens of thousands of dollars. STOP SELLING A FALSE REALITY.

Anonymous said...

@5:00 pm I have two children in college who get grants and have loans so I have a pretty good grasp of how much college costs, TYWM.

I sympathize with the "good salary" argument but the REALITY is, one has to budget for the wages one brings home and paying off debts is necessarily part of one's budget.

When I graduated nearly 30 years ago I had almost $20K in college loan debt (I went to a private school). My monthly payments were $76. My first year I made about $15K. Somehow I managed and so can you.

Anonymous said...

The student loan problem is because Obama put it in the hands of the government, When it was private banks there wasn't a student loan problem. So Obama takes it over and gives it to the government you know they have to control everything. When has the government ever done anything right when it comes to money or takeovers.

Anonymous said...

The problem with the student loans is most of the people are not paying them back and they are being charged off. I think the government should take the money owed from the people's income tax refunds. This is a very serious problem. We have to pay why shouldn't everyone?