A record-breaking 19 percent of American households are seeing red over student loan debt, with the majority of the debtors being young Americans under the age of 35, according to Pew Research Center’s latest study on student debt.
The study found that in 2010, 40 percent of households headed by someone under the age of 35 owed money in student loans.
Worse, the amount Americans owe for their college education has continued to rise, increasing from $23,349 in 2007 to $26,682 in 2010. Likewise, student loan debt per household has increased by more than 2.5 times since Pew began researching the issue in 1989.
Pew also points out hat while student loan debt has been increasing, income per household has been declining.
The 12.7 percent youth jobless rate, which is four percent higher than the already abysmal national unemployment rate, combined with underemployment and the exponentially increasing costs of attending college, has left many Americans in their twenties and even thirties with less cash on hand to spend on necessities like food and rent and other every day activities. This is why 26 percent of young Americans ages 18 – 29 recently told youth outreach organization Generation Opportunity that they were deferring their student loans until the economy picks up steam.
For high school seniors and college freshman, skipping school altogether to avoid the hell that is student loan repayment may seem like a better choice. But a recent report from Georgetown University suggests that Americans who received a college degree are still better off economically than those who did.
For now, it seems young people are stuck in a holding pattern until the economy sees an uptick or Congress decides to act on legislation that would make the cost of attending college more affordable, which would lead to reduced student loan debt for young people who attend public universities.
