Home Blog Ask This Showcase Commentary Discussions About Us Contributors Contact Us
Educational attainment drops as student debt goes up
ASK THIS | September 21, 2006

On average, U.S. students must take on larger student debt loads than ever to go to college and in amounts greater than their counterparts internationally. How is Generation Debt dealing with or avoiding student loans?

By Pedro de la Torre III
pdelatorre@americanprogress.org

Q. Does the prospect of large amounts of debt deter individuals from achieving higher levels of educational attainment, completing college or even going to college at all?

Q. Are relatively high American student debt loads affecting U.S. competitiveness with other countries?

Q. How do recent graduates deal with large student debt burdens? How does it affect major life decisions such getting married, buying a house, or going back to school for an advanced degree? Are recent graduates with high debt levels forgoing jobs in the public or non-profit sector?

Q. The Congressional Budget Office, the General Accounting Office, and the Office of Management and Budget have all found that switching from the government-guaranteed loan program to a direct loan program would save the government billions of dollars a year. Why does Congress continue to support a program that costs taxpayers significantly more, even as it makes one of the largest cuts ever, about $12 billion, from federal student aid?

The high levels of student debt that graduates face have diverse and far-reaching consequences. A recent study by the Public Interest Research Group, for example, shows that 23 percent of graduates from public colleges and 38 percent of private school graduates find that their student debt would unmanageable if they start their career as a teacher, even as experts predict a need for two million new teachers over the next decade. The numbers for graduates entering the field of social work are even worse.

More personal decisions are also affected. Many graduates, particularly those from low-income families, are delaying marriage, child-rearing, and moving out of their parent's home because of their debt burden.

In "Measuring Up 2006: The National Report Card on Higher Education," by the National Center on Public Policy and Higher Education, though U.S. adults 35-65 years old have the second highest educational attainment internationally, the educational attainment level of U.S. adults 25-34 has dropped behind to seventh place. The same report also notes that U.S. college completion rates rank in the bottom half of countries surveyed. (See pages 7 and 8 of the report.)

In all, $73 billion in student loans was disbursed to 10 million students last year.

Click here for more on student debt by Pedro de la Torre on the Center for American Progress Web site.

 Pedro de la Torre III is senior associate, Campus Progress, at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC.
E-mail: pdelatorre@americanprogress.org
Comments
Submit a comment - Jump to bottom of list

Bruce Kushnick
Is basic American telephone service in a death spiral?
Bruce Kushnick questions whether AT&T and Verizon are trying to kill off the “plain old telephone service” that millions of Americans rely on. In a recent FCC filing cited by Kushnick, AT&T stated that landline utilities are from a bygone era, and asked to be relieved of its obligations to service them.

George Wilson
Obama gave a pass to out-of-control military spending
The GAO showed that contractors’ estimates have nothing to do with reality, and economic hard times may eventually force the President and Congress to rein in outrageously costly warships, planes and missile systems that don’t work. But that time isn’t here yet.

Martin Lobel
Some remedies for the Supreme Court power grab
It’s easy to find activism, impossible to find original intent behind the Roberts/Scalia group’s ruling on corporate political spending. Martin Lobel suggests six sharp, practical steps to deal with it.

Watchdog Blog
Barry Sussman
 Scratch the Big Bonuses and Turn Them Over to Borrowers?
As an old assignment editor I’m used to asking questions and not being embarrassed if they expose me as naïve or wrong minded, because sometimes there’s a good story lurking. So here are a few simple questions. The biggest financial institutions are said to be on the verge of issuing $145 billion in bonuses. My [...]

Barry Sussman
 A Simple Solution for Corporate ‘Free Speech’
A friend and contributor to Nieman Watchdog, Martin Lobel, sent this emaiI with the suggestion that people pass it along. Looks worth passing along to me. Here’s Marty: “I don’t know whether you’re as upset with the Supreme Court’s legislating in Citizens United v. FEC as I am, but there is a simple solution that is [...]

George Lardner Jr.
 No 60 Votes Needed Here
Item: The New York Times reported Friday afternoon that “two more Democratic senators” said they would vote against a second term for Fed Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. From there, the Times said this made it unclear “whether there were the 60 votes necessary to confirm Mr. Bernanke.” Excuse me? Sixty votes are not necessary to [...]

Blog main page >>
Web Essentials
Leading journalism sites, blogs...
Enter your e-mail address
Spotlight On

TWITTER
Follow Nieman Watchdog on Twitter.
(Nieman Watchdog)

Torture probe abandoned
For lack of interest, the Senate will not move ahead on the idea to appoint a commission to investigate detention, rendition and interrogation policies by the U.S. during the George W. Bush administration.
(Secrecy News)

Find John Brennan's op ed
Harry Shearer, working from a fantasy assignment desk, wants reporters to find a 2005 anti-Iraq war op ed that never was published.
(Huffington Post)

Those Mohammed cartoons
On Jan 2 a man with an axe tried to attack the Danish artist whose 12 depictions of the prophet Mohammed created a furor in 2005. After the failed attack, a Norwegian newspaper reprinted six of the drawings.
(Editors Weblog)

Afghanistan surge to rely heavily on private contractors
Private contractors are expected to make up at least half of the total military workforce in Afghanistan, according to Defense Department officials cited in a recent study from the Congressional Research Service. The number of contractors will likely increase by between 16,000 and 56,000 for a total of 120,000-160,000.
(TPM Muckraker)

Recession scars will be lasting
The aftershocks from deep recessions reverberate for years, even decades.
(USA Today)

The curious spending of a GOP pro-choice PAC
The money doesn't seem to actually go to supporting choice.
(Center for Public Integrity)

More Spotlights >>
Site Policies  |  Nieman Foundation Home  |  Harvard University Home | XML RSS |
© 2010 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College