"There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt."
Why Senior Student Loan Debt Is More Complicated
Source Date:
Monday, May 6, 2013
Categories:
With more sources of debt and fewer repayment options, seniors are nowthe fastest-growing age group for student
loan debt.
We’ve all heard about the dire straits today’s college students face
upon graduation: tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt that
they may never be able to fully repay. But what about senior citizens?
The truth is, Americans aged 60 and over are in a financial situation
just as alarming.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, by the end of
2012 older Americans owed a staggering $43 billion in college debt,
making them the fastest-growing age group for student loan debt.
Even more frightening, 12.5 percent of those indebted seniors are 90
days delinquent or more. Why are our parents saddled with so much education debt they can’t pay back? Current
students, of course, can blame rising tuition and fewer job opportunities, but for seniors, the answer is more complex.