College: Skyrocketing Costs, Student Debt, and Budget-Wise Choices
Not only do student loans and their accompanying debt keep making news, such lending has become big business for the federal government. In fact, federal student loans have nearly doubled since 2007, with the result that the U.S. Department of Education realized a profit of more than $42.5 billion in the past fiscal year. Plus, had Obama and Congress not temporarily lowered student loan interest rates this summer, that figure would have been about $8 billion higher, thus edging out 2011’s whopping $47.9 billion haul.
The other result: Student loan debt now stands at some $1.2 trillion. “That,” says Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, “is a burden which is affecting, for example, the ability of young people to buy a first home, affecting other purchasing decisions they might make, affecting obviously their overall financial condition.”
Meanwhile, Bellevue University’s study,”The Search for Affordable Alternatives: Rising Costs and Massive Student Loan Debt … Read more
College: Skyrocketing Costs, Student Debt, and Budget-Wise Choices Read More