ECONOMICS

The Student Loan Debt Crisis and How to Solve it

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

This article is in my “Policy Opinions” section.

Introduction

America has $1.59 trillion in student loan debt. Holy shit.

The logical question upon hearing that should be “How do we get out of this mess?” At the core of the issue are two things:

1. The policies for interest rates on student loans are written in a way that screws regular people who can’t afford to pay right away.
2. College tuition has been soaring for decades, and the response has been too limited.

So let’s examine closely the student debt problem in detail.

Why Mass Student Debt is a Problem

First, I should explain why exactly the student debt problem is a major crisis. To do that, I want to put this debt figure in perspective.

Right now, 43 million Americans are holding that massive collective debt of $1.59 trillion, and that comes out to an average of $36,000 in student loan debt per person. Sure, a little debt is good if it’s because you’re making good investments, but this amount of debt is pretty troublesome. Half of workers in America make around $62,000 annually or less. So for workers on the upper end of that group…