In a new report, the U.S. Financial Literacy and Education Commission "recommends that institutions of higher education require mandatory financial literacy courses." It is about time.

The average student loan debt in the U.S. stands at $33,310. In fact, overall student loan debt is about $1.5 trillion, which means student debt has become the second-largest debt market after mortgages.

There are obvious concerns about this mounting student loan debt.

When looking back at data from the 2015 National Financial Capability Study, we found that 45% of individuals age 18 to 34 had a student loan. Thus, almost half of young Americans start their working life in heavy debt. But there are many indications that borrowers did not fully comprehend what they were taking on when they obtained their loans.

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To that point, the NFCS data showed that, at that time, 54% of student loan holders did not try to figure out how much their future monthly payments would be before taking on their loans. As further evidence that student loan decisions are not well thought out, a staggering 53% said that they would make a change if they could go through the process of taking out loans all over again.

The situation seems dire because a great deal of student loan debt is taken on by people who have little understanding of what they are signing up for in the first place. Many of these students feel uneasy and unsure, with 48% of student loan holders expressing concern about their ability to pay off their student debt.