While many of our readers are students themselves, having worked and funded my way through school on loans, I still find it interesting to look at trends related to student borrowing.
According to numbers from the U.S. Education Department, federal student-loan disbursements—the total amount borrowed by students and received by schools—in the 2008-09 academic year grew about 25% over the previous year, to $75.1 billion. While borrowing has wavered over the years, this is an all time high.
Other interesting stats are that 2/3 of students today take out loans, and the average student loan debt upon graduation is around $23k. While this might seem normative now, it is good to keep in mind that only ten years ago this was $13k.
A recent article from the Wall Street Journal, entitled “Students Borrow More than Ever for College: Heavy Debt Loads Mean Many Young People Can’t Live Life They Expected”, gives a great deal more detail about the sacrifices that those harnessed with student loan debt are forced to take. The article also discusses a bit about how availability of loans has driven up the price of schools. “Saving money” on school simply is not really an option today.
I personally am grateful that loans were available to allow me to go to college. Without them I would simply not have been able to go. Even with maxing out my available student loans and scholarships I still had to work two jobs to pay for the next semester. Having paid for ever dime of my masters as well, it feels extremely good to have them paid off in full!
Best,
Miel
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