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[quote]
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. ... 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. ... Full-time undergraduate students borrowed an average $4,963 in 2010, up 63% from a decade earlier after adjusting for inflation, the College Board reports.
<p>The average amount borrowed – $4,963 – seems pretty modest to me. No, I’m not on board for bailing these kids out, or their parents. I feel as if the histrionic rhetoric on this is quite calculated and leading to demands for loan forgiveness, tax payers bailouts, etc.</p>
<p>For a kid who manages to graduate on time and study something even moderately marketable a < $20K debt is really not outrageous. I think the real problem is that too many kids are not actually graduating and too many are majoring in their passion vs what might lead to a job and the ability to pay off the debt.</p>
<p>Another meaningless statistic without additional information. Is this the average per student including all the students with no borrowing? Rather than an “average” I am more interested in knowing the distribution. How many borrowed > $20k? How many > $100k?</p>