The average debt burden taken on by students and parents to get a collage education in 2010 is $34,400.
A lot of recent graduates simply can not find decent jobs and are earning under $30K a year. Starting salaries for college graduates dropped 5% between 2002 and 2007 (inflation adjusted), and are likely to have fallen MUCH further since the economic distress of the last three years.
Today about 70% of college graduates graduate in debt. One in seven student loan holders have defaulted and are in collections. Many are in garnishment, and up to 25% of disposable income may be garnished — although anecdotal reports are heard that claim higher garnishments. The law limits it to 25% but some collectors are aggressive, and the persons in default are shy and beaten.
There are nearly two million young folks who have borrowed for college. One in four is delinquent, but not yet in default.
An graduate in default, is in default because they have a poor paying job. Say $12 an hour — that’s typical. Take home is $10, take away 25% garnishment, and those debt trapped youths are taking home $300 a week.
See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2731549/posts?page=21#21 for sources.
At some point, people need to start asking themselves whether getting a B.A. in Sociology or Political Science or whathaveyou and being able to tote around a piece of paper from a degree mill is worth it.
At this point, I’m planning on steering my son towards a skilled trade like plumbing or auto mechanics.
The question begs - why go to college? Seriously - while some career paths/fields absolutely necessitate/require a degree - there are millions of jobs that require little or no college- or can be well-filled with some training or apprentice-type work.
But apparently, those jobs are not good enough for Americans...so go to college, rack up debt, then suck off the government system when you cannot get a job. Or complain when your high school classmate that chose not to go get in debt to pay for a piece of paper on the wall makes more money than you do...