Student Debt, by the Numbers
Student debt has increased significantly since the 1980s due to higher tuition rates, decreases in federal aid and a growing dependence on credit cards.
By Staff, Utne Reader
July/August 2012
 |
In 2012, the average student debt load is reportedly just over $25,000, but that’s a little misleading. In addition to loans, students are increasingly turning to credit cards to cover rent, food, and other living expenses.
SUPRIJONO SUHARJOTO / FOTOLIA
|
What’s an education worth? The financial crisis has put a heavy burden on all Americans, but students are feeling the pinch in a number of unique ways. Here are some numbers that lay behind the political firestorm.
RELATED CONTENT
Undue Influence? May 30, 2003 Matt Wells The Guardian In jolly old England, protocol dictat...
I once was talking to my friend and mentor Steve Chandler when he said to me, “Have an average day!...
During a time of financial crisis in the 1960s, Ireland developed a mutual credit system that benef...
Predatory lending in student loans...
Our Addiction to Credit August 6, 2001 Sara V. Buckwitz Our Addiction to Credit Seattl...
Since the early 1980s, average tuition has gone up 439 percent, the combined result of lower state funding and a large “echo boom” of young people entering school. About 37 million Americans hold student debt—just over 1 in 10.
That’s a big increase. A generation ago, students were a lot less likely to take out loans. During the 1980-1981 school year, an average student paid just over $2,000 each year for tuition, room and board at a public, four-year school. By 2009, the average was about seven times that.
Federal aid has also dwindled. In 1980, most federal aid to students was in the form of grants, and on average, a Pell grant could cover about two thirds of tuition. These days a maximum Pell grant covers about half that, and Washington invests much more in issuing loans.
Now, the average student debt load is reportedly just over $25,000, but that’s a little misleading. In addition to loans, students are increasingly turning to credit cards to cover rent, food, and other living expenses. An average student has 4.6 credit cards, and the average debt load for a senior is more than $4,000. What’s more, banking on campus is big business. At least 700 colleges and alumni associations have contracts with banks to market credit cards to their students. About 9 in 10 students use credit cards to pay education expenses.