Colleges, Debt | featured news

It's the latest snapshot of the growing burden of student debt and it's another discouraging one: Two-thirds of the national college class of 2011 finished school with loan debt, and those who borrowed walked off the graduation stage owing on average $26,600 - up about 5 percent from the class before....

We thought we’d dodged a bullet. When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that student loan debt had passed the $1 trillion mark my first thought was one of relief since our last child is graduating from college next month. Even though his tuition has almost doubled during his tenure as a student at the University of California, we were fortunate that he will be able to graduate without student loan debt. That may change in the future if he decides to complete a graduate degree, but my husband and I wiped our brows with a collective sigh of relief.

Bankruptcy lawyers have a frightening message for America: They’re seeing the telltale signs of a student loan debt bubble that is placing increased financial pressure on families struggling with their children’s mounting debt. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, more than 80 percent of bankruptcy lawyers have seen a substantial increase in the number of clients seeking relief from student loans in recent years.

Employers and career experts see a growing problem in American society - an abundance of college graduates, many burdened with tuition-loan debt, heading into the work world with a degree that doesn't mean much anymore.