In 10 years, student loans in the US made a surging increase of 107%.
Expenses allotted for student loans
During the latest review in finances made by young people, student loans listed as part of the top priorities for their monthly budget allocation.
As of today, around 44 million Americans are facing the problem of allocating monthly budget to pay off existing college student loans. Approximately $1.6 trillion worth of student debt is yet to be paid.
On average, the population of Americans over the age of 18 is now at 242 million, roughly 18 percent of which are paying off a student loan they owed for going into college.
Also, according to the Federal Reserve data, the numbers for young people are even higher, student loans burden more than half of those who went to college.
For 2009, the government has recorded a total of $772 billion worth in student loans, which by 2019 has increased by roughly 107 percent, at a total of $1.6 trillion. The disparity was quite huge for a ten-year cycle.
Cause and Effect of increasing college fees
With the rise in expenses to be able to go to college, more Americans are considering not going into college and choose an alternative career path.
GALLUP – In a 2013 poll, 70 percent of US adults believe that education is “very important” to career success, 23 percent felt that having a degree is “fairly important”, and only six percent said it is “not that important”.
But in a recent poll in 2019, the figures had drastically changed. Only 51 percent believe that a college degree is “very important”, 36 percent say it is “fairly important”, and around 13 percent are already considering college is “not important” at all.
The author and lead researcher of the poll, Stephanie Marken says the change is a cause for concern. She added,
The decline in overall perceived importance is expected, given the following concerns in access, value, and quality of higher education.
Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst at Bankrate, shares his optimistic point of view in pursuing a college degree,
Getting a college degree, if done right, is still the best investment an individual could ever make. For an average student loan of $30,000, you can possibly earn a lifetime earning of one million dollars. That a pretty good investment, right?
Featured image by HelloGiggles
