A new study from the New America Foundation shows that student debt is higher than ever. And that it’s growing fastest for students at for-profit colleges
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The total student debt in the United States recently passed the $1 trillion mark, so it's little surprise that it has become one of the chief financial and even political issues for young people — a recent survey found that 79% of 18 to 29 year olds considered student debt to be a "major or minor problem" and that the concern was consistent across party lines.
A new study authored by New America Foundation senior analyst Ben Miller shows that the average debt load for graduating students has been growing — and quickly. Using data collected from the Department of Education, Miller found a "predictably dire picture" for students who graduated in 2012, the last year that the DOE's study covered. Here are some of the most important details:
As the number of college graduates has increased, so has the number who are graduating carrying at least some debt. Miller estimates that there were 800,000 more indebted college graduates in 2011-2012 than there were in 2003-2004. The number, he estimates, went from 1.6 million to 2.4 million.
That figure is the highest ever. And it has increased 20 percent over four years. Nearly 70 percent of bachelor degree recipients in 2012 had some student debt, also the highest ever.
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