Idea of the Day: The Cost of Higher Education Is Student Debt

October 26, 2012

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Higher education is an integral part of the American Dream. But today more and more young people increasingly have to finance their education through student loans.

In the past three decades, the cost of attaining a college degree has increased more than 1,000 percent. Two-thirds of students who earn four-year bachelor’s degrees are graduating with an average student loan debt of more than $25,000, and 1 in 10 borrowers now graduate owing more than $54,000 in loans.

African American and Latino students are especially saddled with student debt, with 81 percent of African American students and 67 percent of Latino students who earned bachelor’s degrees leaving school with debt. This compares to 64 percent of white students who graduate with debt. With $864 billion in federal loans and $150 billion in private loans, student debt in America now exceeds $1 trillion.

For more on this topic, please see:

• The Student Debt Crisis by Anne Johnson, Tobin Van Ostern, and Abraham White