Who ever imagined that Ben Bernanke would become a poster child for the student loan debt problem in America? Recently Bernanke told Congress that his son will graduate from medical school with about $400,000 of student loan debt. For most Americans, such a staggering amount of debt would almost certainly guarantee a lifetime of debt slavery. Unfortunately, Bernanke's son is not alone. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, approximately 167,000 Americans have more than $200,000 of student loan debt. The cost of a college education has increased much more rapidly than the rate of inflation over the past several decades, and most students enter the "real world" today with a debt burden that will stay with them for most of their working lives. In an economy where there are so few good jobs for college graduates, it can be incredibly difficult to get married, buy a house or afford to have children when you are drowning in student loan debt. It would be hard to overstate the financial pain that student loans are causing many young adults in America today. The student loan debt problem is a national crisis and it is not going away any time soon.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York says that the total amount of student loan debt in America now exceeds the total of all credit card debt in the country. It also exceeds the total of all auto loans.
The New York Fed says that there is a total of $870 billion owed on student loans in the United States right now. Other sources claim that the total amount of student loan debt in the United States will soon exceed one trillion dollars.
Either way, we are talking about an extraordinary amount of money.
Sadly, approximately two-thirds of all U.S. college students graduate with student loan debt these days. The average amount of student loan debt at graduation is approximately $25,000.
That might not be so bad if the economy was full of good paying jobs for college graduates, but that simply is not the case.
As college tuition continues to soar, the student loan debt problem continues to get even worse. U.S. college students are borrowing about twice as much money as they did a decade ago after adjusting for inflation.
That is not a good trend.
The truth is that it has simply gotten way too expensive to go to college.
Back in 1952, a full year of tuition at Harvard was only $600.
Today, the price tag is $35,568.
So why is a Harvard education 59 times more expensive than it used to be?
Somebody is getting rich off of all this, and it isn't the students.
In fact, many students are looking at a life of debt slavery for decades to come.
The following is a quote from one recent graduate from a recent Politico article....
“I pay almost $1,000 a month just in student loan repayment. I will have to do so for the next 30 years. How will I ever afford to buy a house, have children or save for the future?”
After working so hard all the way through school, is that any kind of a "future" to look forward to?
The system is failing our young people.
Many young college graduates have found themselves unable to make their payments or have simply decided to quit making payments.
Officially, the student loan default rate has nearly doubled since 2005. But a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says that things may be even worse than that. According to the New York Fed, approximately one out of every four student loan balances are past-due at this point.
But it isn't just young people getting into trouble with student loan debt.
These days, financial institutions are increasingly targeting parents. Federal student loans often do not cover all of the expenses of college in this day and age, and so increasingly loans are being made to parents to make up the difference. Student loans made to directly to parents have increased by 75 percent since the 2005-2006 academic year.
Unfortunately, what students and parents are getting in return for all of this money is not that great.
I spent eight years of my life studying at U.S. colleges and universities. The institutions that I attended were supposed to be better than most. But most of the classes that I took were a total joke. A 6-year-old child could have passed most of them.
Almost everyone agrees that the quality of college education in America is in a serious state of decline. The goal is to get these kids through the system and to keep collecting the big tuition checks.
When I was in school, I could hardly believe how little was being required of me. But being as lazy as I was, I certainly did not complain.
If only more parents realized what was really going on.
The following are some facts about the quality of college education in the United States from a USA Today article....
-"After two years in college, 45% of students showed no significant gains in learning; after four years, 36% showed little change."
-"Students also spent 50% less time studying compared with students a few decades ago"
-"35% of students report spending five or fewer hours per week studying alone."
-"50% said they never took a class in a typical semester where they wrote more than 20 pages"
-"32% never took a course in a typical semester where they read more than 40 pages per week."
Are you starting to get the picture?
If you are in college right now, enjoy the good times while they last, because when you graduate you will find that there are very few good jobs available for the hordes of new college graduates that are pouring into the labor market.
For a new college graduate, things can be rather depressing. Just consider the following statistics....
*About a third of all college graduates end up taking jobs that don't even require college degrees.
*In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.
*In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.
There are millions of college graduates that are unemployed in America today. There are millions of others that have been forced to take very low paying jobs because that is all they can get.
It is no coincidence that incomes for households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation since the year 2000.
Young people in America are under intense financial pressure right now.
Many are unable to make it at all and have moved back in with Mom and Dad. As I wrote about recently, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents at this point.
The system of higher education in this country is badly broken and it desperately needs to be fixed.
So do you have a solution to these problems or do you have a student loan debt horror story to share?
Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below....
My parents were too poor to afford to pay for me to go to college, but I knew they would try and would bankrupt themselves in the process. So, I joined the Navy. During the 12 years I was in, I got my Veteran’s benefits, and took classes on the base and onboard ship. I left the Navy with two Bachelor’s degrees and a Master’s degree, and about $1,800 in student debt which I paid off within a couple of years.
There are ways to get a decent education, college degrees, and all that, if you are willing to work at it. I feel very little empathy for those who expect to be able to go to college full-time and whine about not being able to afford it. I worked and went to class at nights and on weekends. I had a family and oh, almost forgot–my wife went to school, too, and got her bachelors in education that she finished up about a year after I got out of the Navy.
It’s not necessary to go to Harvard to get a decent education or a decent job.
You do realize that in joining the Navy you received tax payer subsidies for your education, right? Basically what you are saying is that if people want to have an education they should get somebody else to pay for it.
Hey, I would rather someone get a degree on the taxpapers dime while they are defending my country instead of borrowing $400,000 and then crying about it.
RE:Tony Burton – thank you for serving our country. My husband and father in law were Sailors too. My FIL served 22 years. Proud of them!
Do you realize that military pay is squat? That cost averaged pay with the GI bill probably does not measure up to average private sector wages? That few enlisted take advantage of the GI bill anyway? And that further reduces the cost? That the fellow in question has paid thousands in taxes so in effect has paid back his GI bill? I got 400$ a month in GI bill for 18 months. I paid 375,000$ in taxes the last ten years. What are you complainig about?
Tony Burton,
I congrats you for getting a several degrees without any debt and for serving our country.
However, I think your being a little judgmental. Joining the military is not an option for everyone. A person who is disabled will not be able to join.
Also remember that even though an employer may offer tuition reimbursement, you are not promised long term employment. Employers will layoff as needed. Even worse, you will have to pay the employer the tuition back.
So if someone wants to avoid debt, they probably shouldnt go to college. But if they dont go, and they cant find a job, then people will blame them for not going to college. Youre stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Going to college and taking out student loans was my only option.
So what Ben?
Just print that $400,000 up. Problem soved, neh?
^^ see, wasn’t that easy?
You thin they’ll change this? How, exactly? I mean… what are they going to do, forgive everyone’s debt retroactively?
How pissed off would I be if I graduated in 2012 with a ton of debt, and then in 2013 all the tuition rates dropped down to levels that make some kind of sense all of a sudden?
This is why they won’t change it until people just stop going to college.
Of course according to keynesians like Bernanke this 400 grand of debt will “create” a new market. *rolls eyes*
Goldman Sachs is massively profiting from student loans. This increased especially after they bribed Congress to include a ‘no default’ clause in student loans.
Come to Europe where most of the university students are Chinese. Local people are turned into juggling clowns, waiters and grape pickers.
Do the Universities have an ROTC program for these Chinese students?
amazing the price of health care going up as hospitals close as fas as the housing market…
It’s meant to be a stealth tax on the “rich”. Meaning anyone in the top 20% of wage earners. It’s a hidden way for the government to fund liberal institutions who brainwash their students. And ultimately it’s just another way they’re destroying the economy.
My wife has a B.A. degree plus is just about a semester shy of a Masters.
With the economy as it is she was lucky to find a job as Office Manager at a Medical Clinic making $9.75 an hour. The kicker is, the Medical Assistants just out of a 6 month training program are making $15 an hour or more. What hurts worse is most of them are so dumb my wife ends up doing a lot of their work.
That is really sad.
Michael
The difference is that you wife with her degree will no doubt move up and become a manager while the others with the 6 month certificate will probably stay at that level. At least that is what you hope happens. I think she has a good chance once this economy straightens out.
ecently Bernanke told Congress that his son will graduate from medical school with about $400,000 of student loan debt.
And for anybody who thinks that Baby Bernanke won’t use his daddy’s connections to quickly erase or pay off ever penny of that debt, I still have some prime beachfront property in Cheyenne, Wyoming, just for you, at a price you can’t resist!
Thats the reason why his daddy is trashing the US$. He will be able to pay back his debt with paper void of any value.
We all have a debt we can’t repay, our sin debt. Thankfully God was willing in his great love and mercy, to pay the debt for us by dying on the Cross in our place. Jesus Christ ( God’s only begotten Son ) HAS PAID OUR DEBT, SO THAT ALL WHO COME TO HIM WOULD BE SAVED! Repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ who delivers you from the wrath to come….
God does not exist, god is a creation of the wealthy and powerful elites to keep the ‘rabble’ quiet.
You’re comment makes no sense? God does exist, and His Son is Christ Jesus. Christ is the only way to the Father, the only way to heaven, and the only method of salvation. Anything else is a lie.
Christianity is like the kid in class who copies his classmates work. Except, he got everything wrong. How dare you steal sacred texts, add to them, AND threaten people with your new religion. No wonder you have a “New covenant”. You wouldn’t last 5 minutes under the “old rule”. Oh and the Sabbath is on Saturday!!!
Poor Baby – he won’t have to pay it back anyway. Obama says so!
50% of a school grade is simply showing up. I have never got a job (have had many in my not so young age) that I got from my good grades, good looks, cool cars, etc.
All have been thru family or friends or other people in my life. Best thing a young person can do these days is network, keep a good reputation and let people know you are looking for a job. Worked for me at least.
“An economics professor made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class insisted that Obama’s socialism worked, and that no one would be poor, and no one would be rich; a great equalizer. The professor then said, “OK, we’ll have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade, so no one will fail, and no one will receive an “A.”
“After the first test, the grades were all averaged, and everyone got a “B.” The students who studied hard were upset, and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little, had studied even less, and the ones who studied hard, decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little. The second test average was a “D,” and no one was happy. When the third test rolled around, the average was an “F.”
“As the tests proceeded, the scored never increased, as bickering, blame, and name-calling, all resulted in hard feelings, and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, all failed, and the professor told them that socialism would ultimately fail, because when reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that,
“These are possibly the five best sentences you’ll ever read, and all are applicable to this experiment.
“1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
“2. What one person receives without working for, another must work for without receiving.
“3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
“4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
“5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.”
I presently work as a substitute teacher at the secondary level. Unfortunately, that is available (4 yrs exp., 3 degrees, 2 CA clear creds with all the “alphabet soup” designations -History and Economics). I always follow lesson plans as directed; I am not confused about who’s class it is.
That being said, many times the lesson plans are AWOL or lacking in substance and I need to maintain productive student focus, and “El Viejo” gets on his soapbox.
I ask how many are planning on going to college and what is their plan? The response is always the same, “good grades.” “That’s a description, not a plan,” is my response. Having two daughters presently in college (Baylor Law and undergrad at UCR, I have a particularly up close and personal view of the UC system at its annual costs. I start with the present cost per qtr for any of the UC schools (price only varies by students fees assoc with a specific school -usually only a few hundred), $4600 for ten weeks of instruction, $60k in tuition for a four year degree, – and that doesn’t include books or ANY living expenses. And the UC system is a PUBLIC university funded with state monies. Adding in on-campus housing and students are getting out with $120k in debt to go to a UC for 4 yrs. I tell them to put that in perspective, that is like paying $500/mo for twenty years, without any kind of interest which is pure fantasy; the going rate is %6.99% with good credit. I also make sure that they understand that if they think that they will run up all this debt and then BK after graduation, not a plan. There is no BKing out of students loans, the collateral you put up for the loan was yourself. You as a person can not be repossessed. Nor can you claim bankruptcy of your person in regard to collateral. I warn them that student loans are the next bubble coming and as one young lady put it, “…you mean that the only way out of student loans is to pay them off or die?” “Yes, but then again, if you have a dad like me and I co-signed your loan and you die, they still come after me… until I pay it or…”
The purpose of the U.S. health care system is to make the maximum amount of money for the owners of hospitals. It does.
The purpose of the U.S. high school and university educational system is to make the maximum amount of money for the owners of those institutions. It does.
The purpose of U.S. business corporations is to make the maximum amount of money for their owners. It does.
And of course, the purpose of running for political office is to make the maximum amount of money after you left office.
So what’s the problem?
Daddy will give junior a cushy job thru which the 400k debt will disappear.
Remember that Colin Powell’s son once headed all of the nation’s communications?
Doctors can make up to $250K per year so I think while his school debt is huge he will be able to pay it off. Otherwise all the doctors would all be quitting their practices. Some do but many don’t.
A lot of people don’t realize that you can start making payments on student loans before you graduate. I budget $50 a month towards mine. I’ll still have a balance due once I graduate but it will be a far more manageable amount because of paying down the debt during this time that I’m not being charged interest.
It’s not a real solution but it’s one way to help reduce the burden somewhat once you graduate.
I wish I never went to college. I got a BS and then let Pepsico pay for most of my MBA. It was a waste of time and money. I’ve learned more in self study than I ever did in school. I live in a college town and half the kids I see don’t belong in school. The Universities are not in the business of educating people, they are in the business of empire building.
No one will believe me but i am actually Ben’s illegitimate son…
lol… ahhh what a life to know but be unknown.
400,000 dollars? Make it 4,000,000 dollars!
The bailouts will pay for it!!!
As if his son can’t or won’t go to the Fed Discount Window for a “low interest loan”.(LOL)
Ben Bernanke is the head of the Fed (a private banking institution). He probably has a salery and bonuses in the MULTI-million dollar range. Why is his son getting Student Loans in the first place for $400,000. He being allowed to borrow on our taxpayer dime is BS. Let his father pay for it.
I am glad not to be American. This is the kind of thing that would provoke a revolution in France. In our country, each gifted student is able to become a doctor without such a burden. For those who want more details, students (in any kind of unversity) have to pay around $500 a year ! And the public debt is bigger in America than in France, which shows that your system is not even good for the country’s economy.
PS : please don’t develop any kind of anti-French feeling, I am a great admirer of American culture, I am just focusing on a big economic issue.
Fahrenheit $401k: The amount of money that the little Bernanke twerp will owe in student loan debt.
da bear
centralbankster.com: When central banks compete, you win!
Bernanke has a son? We are screwed.
I have nieces and nephews who complain about their college costs and student loan debts. I don’t feel sorry for them — they all spent multiple semesters in Europe, went to Mexico and Florida over spring breaks, and didn’t work while in school. Now our assclown president is going to buy these fellow-partiers’ votes with a student loan bail out. Maybe we taxpayers will get lucky and the bottom will fall out, so we don’t have to keep bailing out poeple for being irresponsible or dishonest.
I am an eighteen year old high school senior, A student and conspiracy theorist, and knowing what I know now about the college scam and all the horrible scams of the US Government and its bloodthirsty NWO empire, makes me very scared for the future, and I SERIOUSLY changed my mind about going to college! But how am I going to explain that to my parents because they’re BRAINWASHED??? They’ve been rooting for me to go to college all these years!! How am i going to explain every bit of my beliefs to them without having them shout me down and telling me I need to get a f-cking hobby???! HOW AM I GOING TO LIVE WITH THESE SHEEP??? I know theyre my parents, with all the best of intentions for me, they want me to have a good life and a easy life, but they are SO IGNORANT AND MISGUIDED! Not only that, but I seem to be the only conspiracy theorist here in this small town – everybody else is sheep. I have no one to talk to, lucky for those who do. And since my parents are sheep, they certainly wont get ready for the SHTF, and so I might have to prepare myself! I started stocking water bottles a few months ago, not sure how I’m going to sneak in Spam and all that, but I have to try!
Everyone on here, you have my good prayers, and good luck!!