An announcement by the U.S. Department of Education that a majority of undergraduates now receive federal financial aid is hardly surprising, while the related announcement that the percentage of students taking out direct federal loans has grown rapidly, even less so.

Total student debt nearly doubled from 2007 to 2012 and now exceeds $1 trillion. Moreover, as recent reports have illustrated, this generation of college students now believes that assuming large student debt loads is simply part of the undergraduate experience. In 2011, students owed an average of $26,500.