In the United States, the current student loan debt surpasses $1,200,000,000,000 - and that number increases every day. Needless to say, if you are one of those unfortunate brainiacs saddled with a ton of student loan debt, you are far from being alone. Many people are now wondering if they made the right decision about pursuing higher education due to the high payments they are faced with directly upon graduating.
One argument is that you can never go wrong pursuing an education because an uneducated population will cost more in the long run. While you cannot discount the argument entirely, the other argument is simply: do the costs of higher education outweigh the benefits? So you must ask: how does this much debt impact everyday life in the United States? Much more than you may think.
A Major National Problem
When a student graduates with a staggering amount of student loans, a few things may happen:
- That person cannot move out on their own.
- That person cannot start a family.
- That person starts work that (likely) does not begin to cover that debt.
- That person might fall behind on payments quickly.
This often leads to default status, and default does even more damage including potentially ruining a person’s credit for a long time - even for life.
Once a person’s credit is ruined, the following happens:
- That person cannot buy things like a car or house.
- That person still isn’t living independently.
- That person still cannot start a family with any sense of security.
Why does any of this matter? Here’s a further breakdown of why student loan debt is out of control.
Impacting Our Economy
When recent graduates do not buy houses and start families, the economy (on a very basic level) does not grow. So many graduates are now leaving school with so much debt that the very things that used to help the economy grow are now becoming obsolete.
Making matters worse, these graduates often wind up defaulting on loans simply because the majority of jobs offered post-graduation do not pay enough to repay student loan debt. It’s a vicious cycle. The fear is that the American Dream is dying right before our eyes. So, we can either redefine the American Dream or we can begin to deal with the reality of student loans.
