Student loan debt hits record levels

[Javaman]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/story/2011-10-19/student-loan-debt/50818676/1

Students and workers seeking retraining are borrowing extraordinary amounts of money through federal loan programs, potentially putting a huge burden on the backs of young people looking for jobs and trying to start careers.

The amount of student loans taken out last year crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time and total loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year. Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, reports the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago after adjusting for inflation, the College Board reports. Total outstanding debt has doubled in the past five years — a sharp contrast to consumers reducing what's owed on home loans and credit cards.

Taxpayers and other lenders have little risk of losing money on the loans, unlike mortgages made during the real estate bubble. Congress has given the lenders, the government included, broad collection powers, far greater than those of mortgage or credit card lenders. The debt can't be shed in bankruptcy.

More at link...

[Crazy Dave]

1. If you have a degree in law, engineering, architecture or teaching...

You won't find a job anywhere in my town.

[nc4bo]

2. It will haunt them to the grave..........

Don't mean to spam but loans from the likes of Goldman Sachs and companies like them should be investigated. Some of the students were preyed on in exactly the same way homeowners were preyed on with those mortgage loan schemes.:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/14/goldman-sachs-for-profit-college_n_997409.html

Education Management Corp. was already a swiftly growing player in the lucrative world of for-profit higher education, with annual revenues topping $1 billion, but it had its sights set on industry domination. So, five years ago, the Pittsburgh company's executives agreed to sell its portfolio of more than 70 colleges to a trio of investment partnerships for $3.4 billion, securing the needed capital for an aggressive national expansion.

One of the new partners brought an outsized reputation for market savvy, deep pockets and a relentless pursuit of profits -- the Wall Street goliath, Goldman Sachs.

After the deal closed and Goldman became a partner, employees soon noticed a drastic shift in culture. Longtime admissions managers were replaced, ushering in an era in which recruiters were endlessly hounded by supervisors about hitting weekly enrollment targets. The admissions staff nearly tripled, requiring expanded floor space to accommodate a sales force of more than 2,600 across the country

Just as the subprime mortgage bubble was giving way to a bust that would help trigger a devastating financial crisis, Goldman Sachs, a firm that had been at the center of Wall Street's rampant mortgage speculation, found its way to a new area of explosive growth: In claiming what would eventually become a 41 percent stake in Education Management Corp., Goldman secured itself a means of tapping into the boom in for-profit higher education. The federal government was boosting aid to college students nationwide, just as a declining economy prompted millions of Americans to seek refuge in higher education, leading to dramatically expanding enrollments at many institutions.

[david_vincent]

9. Thanks for this, nc4bo, and thanks, Javaman, for these links --

much appreciated. I forwarded them to a number of coworkers.

[dkf]

3. That is probably the easiest loan to get.

[madrchsod]

4. and can not be shed if you are dead

they get first cut from one`s estate

[LynneSin]

5. D'uh

sorry, this is the dumbest headlines. Of course it's hit record levels. We're about to cross 7 billion people in this world which means the number of people needing student loans will always be on the increase.

[Shagbark Hickory]

6. Too many babies. Not enough jobs.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

[Raschel]

7. Many people out of work due to the economy turned to education to try to get a new job.

[izquierdista]

8. JUBILEE!!

Since education should be free in the first place, these should be the first debts to be completely erased in the coming jubilee.

[OhioChick]

10. Sad thing is...

The unemployed were told to "retrain" for another field/career and the jobs just aren't there.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3868182