Question

Student Loan. Is it worth it?

After reading the article found in the following site (you may have to copy and paste), post substantive comments on the student loan issue.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-t-delaney/the-hidden-student-loan-debt-problem_b_6343800.html

Answer 1

Much outrage has been expressed over the difficulty U.S. college students and recent graduates are facing because of their student loan debt. Since the recession began in 2008, the amount of student loan debt has spiked by 84 percent, with borrowers owing a record $1.2 trillion. Nearly 40 million Americans have at least one outstanding student loan, according to new research by Experian. But is the problem as dire as some make it out to be?

Today, the average student owes about $28,000 on student loans. That is a big number, but a recent article in Forbes used some comparisons to help put that number into perspective. For example, the average American car loan is $27,000 and purchasing a car does not deliver the high return on investment that a four-year college education does. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that over an adult’s working life, someone with a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn nearly an extra million dollars on average compared with someone with only a high school diploma. Similarly, the average home mortgage loan in the U.S. is now over $280,000. Some observers have suggested that student loan debt may prevent young people from purchasing cars or homes and hence is a serious problem. That may be true to some extent, but I argue that the real problem today is wage stagnation, which adds years to when borrowers can pay off their student loans and does