US student debt surpasses $1 trillion
Baku, April 4 (AZERTAC). According to a federal government agency, student loan debt in the US surpassed 1 trillion dollars “several months ago.” The finding, reported by a spokesman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to a banking conference in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, is “much larger” (in his words) than other recent estimates.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York issued a study in early March suggesting that the total student debt had reached $870 billion. The new figure is 16 percent higher than that estimate. This staggering amount is greater than the total owed by Americans on their credit cards or auto loans.
The CFPB announcement, which signifies that a considerable portion of the younger generation will be condemned to decades of debt, will not create a ripple within the American political and media establishment.
Leading newspaper editors and television pundits, as well as Democratic and Republican politicians, are universally agreed that the full cost of the economic crisis must be borne by the working population, whatever the consequences. Neither Barack Obama nor any of his Republican rivals will do anything about the deepening scandal of student debt.
Chopra pointed out that federal student loan debt isn`t increasing simply because of individuals taking out new loans. “With so many borrowers unable to keep up with interest payments, debt is growing even for many who have left school.”
The CFPB student loan ombudsman added, “The lines of job-seekers are long, states are reducing their higher education budgets, and household budgets are straining. Young consumers are shouldering much of the punishment in the form of substantial student loan bills for doing exactly what they were told would be the key to a better life.”
The various figures and processes are almost overwhelming to contemplate:
Total student loan debt has grown by 511 percent, or more, over the past dozen years. In the first quarter of 1999, a mere $90 billion in student loans were outstanding. That figure had soared to $550 billion in the second quarter of 2011, which may turn out to have been an underestimation. Between 1999-2000 and 2007-2008, private student loan borrowing grew four times, from $4.5 billion to $21.8 billion per year. The College Board reports that, adjusted for inflation, students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago.
Other news in this section
