princeton university
Student debt hits a record 1 in 5 households
September 26,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, According to analysis by the Pew Research Center student debt has stretched to a record number nearly 1 in 5 of U.S. households,
The analysis by the Pew Research Center found that 22.4 million households, or 19 percent of US households had college debt in 2010. That is double the share in 1989, and up from 15 percent in 2007, just prior to the recession . This represents the biggest three-year increase in student debt in more than two decades.
Pew found that the increase in debt was driven by higher tuition costs as well as rising college enrollment during the economic downturn. The biggest jumps occurred in households at the two extremes of the income range.
More well-off families are digging deeper into their pockets to pay for costly private colleges, while lower-income people in search of higher-wage jobs are borrowing money and enrolling in community colleges, public universities and other schools as a way to boost their resumes.
Because of the very weak economy, fewer college students than before are able to settle into full-time careers immediately upon graduation, contributing to a jump in debt among lower-income households as the young adults take on part-time jobs or attend graduate school, according to Pew.
