September 24, 2014
By Kim Wheeler
Student loan debt has gone up 84 percent since 2008 and the Great Recession. The average debut is around $29,000.
Most students today have as many as four student loans to pay off after they graduate.
The average monthly payment for students now is about $300 per month. Paying your student loan on time can help you build up your credit, but missing payments of course can cause real problems.
A couple of things about student loan debt. We know when graduates begin work their first payments are impacting their contribution to a great economy. They are unable to purchase homes in many instances and there is far less disposable income.
What also has to be realized is the universities adding to the burden their students carry. How often are student loan rates increased only to see universities raise their tuition, books, fees and housing. In other words, students are caught in the continual cruelty of increased debt. It is as though the student loan program is working to entrench them in debt rather than alleviate it.
There needs to be realistic expectations of students to carry debt as graduates, but, the universities need a limit on how much of a student loan can be absorbed. The universities also need a time element to when they can hike their rates and costs to students after an announcement of the availability of higher loan amounts.
Graduation Day should not be the worst day of their lives.
