The Battle with Student Debt

-Steve

In today's society one of the biggest financial issues is student debt after graduating from college. It's so large that many people are still paying off their student loans while they are retired. You might ask how do people pay off their loans while in retirement. This is where the government takes money out of your social security and pays off your debt, leaving people with very little funds to get by on.

In 2015, there were approximately 20,000 Americans over the age of 50 that had their social security checks cut below the poverty line because of their student debt (Board, para. 2). Statistics have also shown that the amount of Americans over the age of 60 that still have college debt has quadrupled to 2.8 million since 2005 (Board, para 3).

Also, people aren't just getting into debt because of their own student debt, but because they co-signed on someone else's loan. This results in people not being able to pay for daily living costs.
However, the government does offer income based repayment plans which can be very beneficial for those in very serious student debt and are struggling to stay above the poverty line.

Overall, I believe that the government should offer even better repayment plans and should also better educate the borrowers about taking out loans and the possible results and consequences.

Sources:
Board, Editorial. "Haunted by Student Debt Past Age 50." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Feb. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.        
Murphy, Nikelle. "5 Reasons Why You Should Not Take Out Student Loans." The Cheat Sheet. The Cheat Sheet, 02 Mar. 2017. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.