A Rising Trend, Student Loans

With the soaring cost of tuition and a harsh job market, college seniors graduating face a new form of financial crisis. In an article published by CNN Money on October 18^th, 2012, found that more than 60% of recent 2011 graduates had student debt. Of those students that were in debt, they owed on average of $27,000 upon graduation from college.

This is over a 5% increase since just 2010, and cannot come at a worse time as graduates struggle to find employment. The same study also found that the number of students that defaulted on their student loans within the first two years after graduating college saw a .3% increase to 9.1% in 2011 from 2010.

When potential college students are looking at which college to attend, they need to take into account for the cost of tuition, financial aid, where the school is located, scholarships, fees, etc, as similar schools debt levels can differ significantly.

If this news makes you want to skip college and go straight to work after high school, you might want to think again. In 2011 college grads faced an 8.8% unemployment rate, but high school grads faced a staggering 19.1% unemployment rate.

As you can see, a college degree is still the best option for landing a job with good pay, even though debt and loans scare off potential students. College students just need to make wise decisions in their school choice and money habits.

CNN Money