A Report From The Occupy Wall Street Student Debt Working Group

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Occupy Wall Street ‏@OccupyWallStNYC

RT @postvirtual: A Report From The Occupy Wall Street Student Debt Working Group http://annlarson.org/2012/03/03/a-report-from-the-occupy-wall-street-student-debt-working-group/ … #studentdebt #ows

http://annlarson.org/2012/03/03/a-report-from-the-occupy-wall-street-student-debt-working-group/


Student debt in the US has topped one trillion dollars. Americans now have more student debt than credit card debt or any other kind of consumer debt. This is not just a problem for private college students. Sixty-two percent of public college students leave school with debt.

College tuition has risen to insane heights. Tuition has gone up more than 400% since the 1980′s, an increase that has far outpaced inflation or family income. In fact, check out the Project on Student Debt for some scary stories about ruined lives and dashed dreams. Debtors are more likely to commit suicide, divorce, and suffer from depression.

Default rates on student loans have gone through the roof in recent years. The NYT reports that 8.8% of borrowers whose loans came up for repayment in 2009 are in default. Default rates are as high as forty percent when for-profit college figures are taken into account.