The ongoing rapid rise in the cost of a college education has been troubling for some time. The increasing costs are troubling for graduates and the economy. For current college students a new reality is making an already challenging situation more difficult for those from families with the lowest household incomes. More specifically, the Hechinger Report considered the net price change students experienced from the 2008-09 school year to the 2011-12 year. Read More …
student loans
Goodbye Student Loan Debt (#1340)
For several years my wife and I belonged to a group 10.6 million strong: Americans in their 30s with student loan debt. Earlier this month, we waved goodbye to our membership when we paid off our final student loan. While we both earned undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees, we never amassed overwhelming debt because we were intentional about borrowing the least amount possible to continue on toward our ultimate educational goals. So What? As someone who works in higher Read More …
Student Loans in Younger Households (#0884)
The Pew Research Center recently featured an article highlighting the overall trends over time in the percentage of households with outstanding student debt. By reporting on the percentages by the age of the head of household over time, the graph provides a picture that illustrates how the experience of possessing student debt has become increasingly normative in younger households. More specifically, from 1989-2010 the percentage of households in the youngest two age cohorts Read More …
Growing Student Loan Debt (#0798)
Student loans have been a hot topic in recent weeks as the deadline approached (included in a 2007 law) for the current interest rate for subsidized Stafford loans to double (rising from 3.4% to 6.8%). When Congress passed legislation that continued the very low rate, the topic of student loans was no longer front page news. With this recent issue fresh on the minds of many, a new study provides troubling details of how quickly the amount students are borrowing is Read More …