The Student Debt Crisis

According to an article published recently in MarketWatch, nearly 70% of bachelor’s degree recipients leave school with debt. The student debt grand total? $1.2 trillion dollars, the average indebted college student between the ages of 20 and 30 now makes a monthly payment of roughly $350; and the average debt that students graduate with continues to rise. In the recent graduating class of 2016, the average student owed over 37,000 dollars.

 

Negative impact

The prevalence of student debt is having enormous impact on thousands of individual lives and our society as a whole. As the aforementioned MarketWatch report points out: “student loan debt may be preventing Americans from making the kinds of big purchases that drive economic growth, like house and cars, and reaching other milestones, such as having the ability to save for retirement or move out of mom and dad’s basement.”  If these words sound painfully close to your own reality, then it may be time to take action and take control of your life.

 

What can be done?

Ask a hundred people what can be done on a political or society-wide level about this problem, and you’re likely to get a hundred different answers. However, on an individual level, the answers are a bit more clear, though still far from simple or easy. First of all, students should take every possible step to reduce the amount of debt that they take on over the course of their studies--this means applying to scholarships, considering beginning at a community college, and possibly living with parents or relatives until their degree is earned. For students who find themselves currently in debt, the key is to pay this debt as quickly as possible before interest piles up and drastically increases their amount owed. This must be accomplished through a combination of careful financial management, aggressive debt payment, and, if necessary, a debt reduction service such as Madison Monroe and Associates. Visit us online today for more information www.madisonandmonroe.com or simply give us a call (877) 346-2797 we are here to help.