Trends in Student Loans

The soaring cost of college is slowing and the amount of student loans needed to cover it, is dropping, according to College Board, which conducts annual surveys on the matters.

College Board says the price of tuition at four-year, in-state universities went up 2.9 percent, the smallest gain since 1975.  Per student borrowing is down 9 percent over the last three years. Scholarships and grants (free money!) now make up almost half (49 percent) of the aid students receive.

That is a positive trend. Sadly, it is dwarfed by negative trends over the last 10 years.

Student loan debt has soared from $260 billion in 2004 to $1.2 trillion in 2014; average debt jumped from $18,650 to $33,000; and the number of people over 60 with student loan debt tripled to 2.1 million. That group’s share of the debt has skyrocketed from $8 billion to $43 billion and five percent of them are having loan payments deducted from their Social Security checks.

Down the road, economists predict that student loan debt will affect choice of employment and delay home buying, opening a business, and when to get married and have children.