The facts behind the mountain of student debt: 13 percent of students owe more than $50,000 and nearly 4 percent owe more than $100,000. Student debt grew by 284 percent from 2004 to 2013.
Many Americans view a college education as a way to build a better life. College is seen as an avenue for better prosperity and the ability to pull yourself up beyond your current circumstances. In fact, after World War II programs like the G.I. Bill allowed many Americans the opportunity to pursue a college degree. [...]
The young, educated, and massively in debt college generation: Total student debt outstanding approaches $1.1 trillion. 65 percent of all outstanding student debt held by those 39 and younger.
It is interesting to hear older politicians take the podium and wax and wane poetically how young Americans are not working hard enough or need to take responsibility for their actions in the current economy. The reality of the situation is the recent recession has punished the young disproportionately. The young have seen their net [...]
The higher education racket gets long in the tooth: For-profits account for 47 percent of defaults but make up only 13 percent of total enrollments.
Bubbles do not burst in a nice orderly fashion. In fact, incredible graft enters the system where it becomes obvious to any bystander that the bubble is going to burst. This is the case for higher education. The US has over 4,000 colleges and universities, with many of them operating like glorified paper mills. Similar [...]
Young riding out recession by going into debt for college: Millennial unemployment jumps by two percent.
As the animal spirits of the economy rage wild, there are still difficult challenges ahead for younger Americans. While the stock market is up highlighting corporate euphoria, many companies are doing this with 4 million fewer workers. So the economic recovery is not evenly distributed and they rarely are. Yet younger Americans are still facing [...]
Income Based Repayment plan cementing inflated higher education costs for graduate school: How new IBR Pay as you Earn plan will be a big win for graduate students and keep college costs high. Student debt to hit $1.8 trillion in 2020.
It is interesting that the two segments in our economy mired in debt, housing and higher education, were largely inflated courtesy of easy access to debt. New rules on how students pay back their student debt including the Income Based Repayment plan ironically will keep prices inflated. The new program dubbed “Pay as you Earn” [...]
The most educated and indebted generation ever – Average student debt has tripled since 1990 while earnings have gone stagnant for college graduates. How much is the college rite of passage worth?
Most have very fond memories of their college going years. Going off to college is one of the few rites of passage that we have in the United States ushering future generations into official adulthood. Yet the cost to attend this passage has gotten astronomically expensive. College has now turned into a very large business [...]
Is College Worth the Price and Debt? Private student loans make up $150 billion of the $1 trillion in outstanding student debt. Private student loans grow hand and hand with for-profit institution growth.
Few will ever argue that getting an education is a worthy goal. College is seen as the gateway to a better life and mobility into the middle class. The middle class has been shrinking while the cost of attending college has skyrocketed. The cost to attend college has far outstripped any sensible economic measure and [...]
The sound of rumbling from the student debt bubble – Jump in consumer credit last month came mostly from student debt growth. For two decades student debt expanded at a rate above 17 percent per year.
The flashing alert signs permeating from the higher education bubble should give people pause to the next flavor of the day bubble. This month information was released regarding consumer credit growth. Most of the headlines took this as positive economic news but digging deeper into the data we realize that the bulk of the growth [...]
Student debt crisis enters a tipping point – Delinquent student debt now reaching record levels as defaults spike. Paying more and earning less.
The great deleveraging event continues to unwind while one sector of debt continues to grow by leaps and bounds. While other forms of debt have fallen by $1.6 trillion since the peak of the debt bubble mania, student loan debt has increased by a stunning $303 billion since the third quarter of 2008. What is [...]
The looming student loan bubble – Almost half of all student borrowers were not making payments. 1 out of 4 in debt repayment past due on student debt.
The aggressive growth in student debt is setting the country up for another debt fueled bubble. Higher education costs have expanded so quickly that Americans now carry $1 trillion of student debt. Most of this expansion has occurred in a time when the return-on-investment for a college degree has fallen. Over the last ten years [...]
