I was on my way to a client and I heard a story on NPR about the impact of student loan debt and the stats threw me, so I went back to get the details.
According to the story there are 44 million Americans that currently have student loan debt. This is over 13% of the population.
The amount of student loan debt was even more of a surprise. The outstanding balance is $1.3 Trillion, this exceeds all credit card debt according to the story.
I understand that colleges and universities have little interest in getting their costs under control, which explains why the cost of college has exceeded inflation.
Between 2011-12 and 2016-17, published tuition and fee prices rose by 9% in the public four-year sector, by 11% at public two-year colleges, and by 13% at private nonprofit four-year institutions, after adjusting for inflation.
While inflation has been running under 3% for the last 9 years.
Too bad the colleges and universities don’t have a vested interest in keeping their tuition or fees lower to free their students from the increasing costs and more student loan debt.
Make sure you do your due diligence about employment opportunities for your major to ensure there is a cost benefit ratio, before you load up on debt.