Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Why is Student Debt Rising? Look at Your State’s Budget for Answers - Steve Dubb, Non-Profit Quarterly

The nation’s student loan debt in 2001 was $340 billion. Today, it is $1.53 trillion. Since 2008 alone, reports Michelle Singletary in the Washington Post, the increase in debt load has been 130 percent. “Fifty-seven percent of young adults said they felt burdened by their student loans,” Singletary adds. Rising private tuition costs are frequently blamed for this increase—and certainly there is no argument that these have played a major role. But most college students attend public universities. Federal statistics show that 8.7 million of 13.7 million students at four-year colleges attend public schools, which works out to 63.5 percent of all college students (the percentage goes up to 73.5 percent if two-year degree students are included). https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2018/10/08/why-is-student-debt-rising-look-at-your-states-budget-for-answers/