It’s no secret that student loan debt is a problem in America. Tuition costs continue to skyrocket, and paired with shrinking government financial aid, student loan debt is now the number one debt problem for young Americans.
Just two weeks ago, Congress failed to stop an automatic interest rate hike for Federal Stafford Loans, which doubled interest rates from 3.4% to 6.8% – so the problem just compounded for undergrads across the country. The student loan situation looks pretty bleak for future generations as well.
We stumbled across this infographic this morning and had to share it. It shows the history of college tuition and student loan costs from the 1940’s to today. A few of the staggering stats include:
- 1 out of every 10 Americans have student loan debt.
- 1 out of 7 private university students default on their student loans.
- 3 out of 10 borrowers have payments at least 30 days past due.
- If you have $25,000 in student loan debt at the new rate of 6.8% and pay only $150 a month, it will take 42 years and 8 months to pay off the loan.
(Thanks to consolidatedcredit.org for the awesome infographic!)