Inflation unchained: US dollar down 23 percent from 2000, Tuition up 72 percent, and home values up 44 percent. Incomes adjusting for inflation are back to 1990s levels.
It is hard to believe that people in the US are still denying the obvious impact of inflation. The slow erosion of purchasing power has occurred for many decades now. What people tend to forget in a completely fiat based system is that the Fed can print as much money as it likes. And they [...]
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” [...]
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 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 [...]
A costly lesson in student debt for young Americans – 34 percent of all student debt saddled to those under the age of 30. 47 percent of student loan borrowers appear to be in deferral or forbearance.
The student loan market has expanded like a financial virus in the last decade. Even during the financial meltdown where credit was being restricted across all sectors of the economy, student debt kept on growing at a feverish pitch. It would be one thing if the quality of education had increased or wages were going [...]
Is college worth the money and debt? The cost of college has increased by 11x since 1980 while inflation overall has increased by 3x. Diluting education with for-profits. and saddling millions with debt.
Is a college degree worth it? Since the debt bubble burst spectacularly in 2007 many more prospective students are questioning the worth of a college degree. For so many decades it was simply taken at face value that getting a college degree, any college degree would be worth it. Slowly this perception has morphed when [...]
The privateers of education – How banks collude with the government to inflate college costs. Student loan debt now surpasses total credit card debt.
One of the more ominous statistics coming from this recession is that student loan debt has now surpassed total credit card debt in the United States. The reason for this is based on the deep impact of the recession. Credit card debt peak at $975 billion back in September of 2008 and is now down [...]
