Uncategorized
Student Loan Debt On The Rise
< < Back to student-loans-increasingThe amount of money Americans owe in student loans now exceeds the amount of credit card debt.
The cost of college is rising, leaving more and more graduates with debt.
This leaves a huge financial burden on students that are just beginning their careers.
"Personally, I feel like it's maybe a little bit too expensive because a lot of students end up leaving with debt and it takes a really long time to get rid of it," Ohio University Freshman Andres Obregon said.
With the rising cost of college tuition, more students are turning taking out loans to pay for their education.
Sociology professor and debt specialist, Deborah Thorne says the problem has gotten worse in recent years.
"It was doable; it was manageable just a generation and a half ago," Thorne said.
"It's just fundamentally, at the core, unmanageable, it's just stupid to expect a student to be able to earn now enough during the summer to pay for their cost of education."
Thorne also says that graduates end up sacrificing a lot of other expenses they feel they cannot afford like a down payment on a home, buying a safer vehicle or saving for retirement.
President Obama gave a speech in Denver, Colorado Wednesday outlining a plan to ease the burden on graduates with student loan debt.
Among other changes, his plan would lower the amount of debt people had to pay off from 15 percent a year to 10 percent.
Students can make choices that will decrease the amount of student loan debt.
Thorne suggests postponing higher education for a year instead of borrowing more or choosing a cheaper institution. Thorne states that many experts say students should not receive any loan money that exceeds their projected earnings in their first year out of college.