Posted on 01/21/2010 8:03:04 AM PST by Cheap_Hessian
NEW YORK (Reuters) - As lenders continue to curtail access to mortgages, credit cards and other types of loans, one area of the credit market is rapidly expanding: student loans.
Unprecedented growth in student loans over the past two years is raising questions about whether a generation will be saddled with debt before it has even entered the workforce, according to data that the Equifax Inc credit bureau provided exclusively to Reuters.
The number of U.S. student loan accounts has risen 29 percent to 69 million over two years, according to Equifax, while balances have jumped by $105 billion to $527 billion.
"We've never seen this high student loan activity," said Dann Adams, president of Equifax's U.S. Information Systems.
The demand for student loans results from college graduates pursuing advanced degrees because of high unemployment. Also, parents' depleted savings mean more college-age children are forced to take on debt.
"You have a whole generation of consumers who have never had this debt load, so they're walking into this tough unemployment situation with higher degrees of debt," Adams said. "Young adults probably face higher taxes ahead, and a national system overloaded with debt."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Zero’s working to take that over, too.
The sad part is most of these students will get degrees in uselessness.
alternate explanation: the job market is so crappy right now for anyone coming out with a freshly minted Bachelors Degree that most students are opting to go to grad school rather than enter the job market. (at least that way they can maintain deferments on the loans they took for undergrad studies)
I’m sure this trend and the fact Obama is nationalizing the system are related. Setting the stage for future Populist Democrat campaigns. (Vote Dem and we will forgive part of your student loans, cut your credit-card interest, drop your health premiums, etc. etc. etc...)
Under obammy... no one voting dim will have to repay anything.
LLS
Great time for Vets to go back to school using the loans in conjunction(junction) with the Chapter 33 GIBill that pays a monthly living allowance.
What is the lesson to be learned? damn if I know.............
Unlike any others... GI’s DESERVE an education... it should be free!
LLS
And the EZ money student loans are what make it so easy for colleges to increase tuition at many times the rate of inflation for the last several decades. Get the government and the regulation out of the student loan business, make students qualify for loans based on their income like they would for a car loan, and the cost of college will have to fall to meet the resulting demand.
A woman I know got a BS & then MS on either state or federal loans about 15 years ago. She has never paid them back as the loans can be put off as long as the student is in school. There’s a 9-month grace period before repayment starts. So every 9 months she takes an art class & puts them off another 9 months. There’s no limit on how long this can go on.
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