Tina Carr and Yvette Colon had the same goal. They wanted to build careers in the medical field, make a good living and enjoy a better quality of life. They both knew that the gateway to a brighter future would be to attend a good school that had a track record of placing its students in meaningful jobs after graduation and would give them the opportunity to pursue further education down the road. Sanford-Brown Institute convinced them they had found their dream school, but instead plunged them into a nightmare that isn’t over yet.
In Germany, riding the subway without buying a ticket is called schwarzfahren—quite literally “riding in the dark.” While it saves you money on the ticket, you’re always riding the train with a lingering fear that a fare inspector is going to discover you and slap you with a massive fine. Defaulting on your student loans is pretty much the millennial American version of schwarzfahren. You can’t ignore your student loans into going away (even declaring bankruptcy won’t get rid of them).
Student loan debt in the United States has more than doubled over the past decade to about $1.5 trillion, and the Federal Reserve now estimates that it is cutting into millennials' ability to buy homes.
Homeownership rates for people ages 24 to 32 dropped nearly 9 percentage points between 2005 and 2014 — effectively driving down homeownership rates overall. In January, the Fed estimated 20 percent of that decline is attributable to student loan debt.
WASHINGTON — Virginians struggling with student loan debt have a new place to turn for help.
Scott Kemp is the state’s first student loan advocate.
He works within the Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman, which was established by The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) at the direction of a law passed last year in the General Assembly.
Mounting student loan debt is a serious challenge for many Americans – and individuals in some areas of the country are having a harder time repaying that debt Opens a New Window. .
Outstanding student loan debt surpassed $1.5 trillion in 2018 – second only to mortgage debt – doubling over the past decade.
In 22 states, people who default on their student loans can have professional licenses suspended or revoked. The percentage of Americans who default on student loans has more than doubled since 2003.
Butch Dill/AP
Clementine Lindley says she had a great college experience, but if she had it to do over again, she probably wouldn't pick an expensive private school.
"I could actually buy a small home in Helena, Mont., with the amount of debt that I graduated with," she says.
With the average student loan balance hitting $29,800 for the Class of 2018, you’re probably looking for any help you can get paying off your debt. And if you meet certain requirements, it’s possible to have a portion of your balance forgiven.
Not everyone qualifies for forgiveness: If you have private loans, for example, you’re on the hook to repay the full amount, and every forgiveness program has strict requirements. You shouldn’t count on forgiveness to get your debt under control, and you should never pay anyone who promises to get your debt forgiven—it’s likely a scam.
Most people pursuing public service loan forgiveness discover at some point that they don't qualify, for one technical reason or another.
That may be because their loan type is ineligible or they're not in the right repayment plan.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007 and allows not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans erased after 10 years of on-time payments.
Student-loan delinquencies surged last year, hitting consecutive records of $166.3 billion in the third quarter and $166.4 billion in the fourth.
Bloomberg calculated the dollar amounts from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s quarterly household-debt report, which includes only the total owed and the percentage delinquent at least 90 days or in default.
That percentage has remained around 11 percent since mid-2012, but the total increased to a record $1.46 trillion by December 2018, and unpaid student debt also rose to the highest ever.
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“This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.”
– Earl Wilson
"Bankruptcy laws allow companies to smoothly reorganize, but not college graduates burdened by student loans."
– Robert Reich
“What I would like to do... once I take care of all my kids' student loans, is buy a red 1965 Mustang and fully restore it.”
– Mike Quigley
"If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."
– Irwin "Professor" Corey
"There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt."
– P. T. Barnum
The road to success is always under construction
– Lily Tomlin
"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
