More students will college all the time and most of them are going into debt. Borrowing funds for education and the amount owed will reach the $1 trillion level in 2011 after surpassing the total number of dollars owed by credit card borrowers last year. The “good debt” of student loans could transform into a “bad debt” for a lot of people who have finished college and look at an indefinite future of writing checks to the bank that financed their education.
Increases in school costs means increases in debt
There were hardly any students applying for debt for a bachelor’s degree in 1993. In fact, less than half did this. By 2008, the number of students graduating in debt had risen to two-thirds. Then the average debt increased even more. By 2009, $24,000 was the average student loan debt a student left with. The total amount of student loan debt is designed to get to at least $1 trillion in 2011. It is expected to continue to grow rapidly. Lower-income students can get Pell grants for financial aid, although Congress Republicans want to get rid of them. The current generation of college students may have to deal with these changes as there have been tuition increases while universities and colleges are getting funding taken from them by the states. As student loan debt grows, so does the rate of student loan default. There can be huge student loan payments that have to be made while credit could possibly be damaged if they are not made. This could really hurt students in the future who are attempting to have children or trying to purchase a house. The choice between saving for a child’s education and paying for own school loans may be one that many parents have to make.
There is some good debt
Payday loans, charge cards and auto loans are all forms of “bad debt.” Student loans, on the other hand, are considered “good debt” by several. At the end of the recession, debt became bad altogether. It is now considered bad to take any out. Now, as the College Board explains, education costs $37,000 or more for four years of schooling privately. Still, as long as the salary from the degree is high enough to cover the loans, school loans are considered good debt. Most financial advisers suggest that individuals don’t borrow more than they could make the year after they graduate. That rule of thumb, however, highlights the risk of taking on student loan debt. It is not going to be simple to get a job in sociology or history that pays off the loans. There is less of a risk in degrees such as medicine or engineering. More debt has to be taken out with them though.
Bottom line: debt is risky
The real thing that everybody ought to know when it comes to debt is that if it can’t be paid off, then it is bad debt. Right now there’s a huge default rate. In just for-profit schools, the rate is almost to 50 percent. Bankruptcy does not get rid of student loans. For federally guaranteed student loans, the government can garnish wages, withhold tax refunds or dock Social Security payments. Everyone who pays the 15 percent of income for 25 years, or 10 years in a public service position, can have that debt forgiven which the Obama administration has done to help those in low paying jobs.
Information from
New York Times
nytimes.com/2011/04/12/education/12college.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Creditcards.com
creditcards.com/credit-card-news/does-good-debt-still-exist-1264.php
care 2
care2.com/causes/education/blog/student-debt-for-college-likely-to-exceed-a-trillion-dollars/
