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Student loan debt has exploded from $260 billion in 2004 to $1.4 trillion in 2017; average student debt has risen from $18,850 to $38,000 for the same period. In the U.S., the student loan debt crisis affects over 44 million borrowers. As awe-inspiring as these numbers are, there is one you don’t hear much about: the number of people who are over sixty and are still paying on their student loans in the last decade has quadrupled to 2.8 million.

What no one is talking about is the idea a person could go to college, start paying on school loans and find themselves so deep in debt, they can pay for their loan their entire working career and still be in debt in their sixties. How is this possible? Accounting irregularities, predatory technical colleges, extreme interest rates, and poor paying jobs after college all add up to a nearly criminal enterprise capable of extracting money from students for decades.

Adding insult to injury, new laws make it impossible for students to get out from under debt, unlike any other aspect of society, students cannot charge off their debt. As a result borrowers are finding themselves with an additional “education tax” they have to pay monthly average $300 dollars a month which challenges many students abilities to pay their bills and their education debt.

Is it possible to end up bankrupt from the very process which was meant to liberate and enable you to make a living? You betcha.

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We want to hear from you: How much student debt did you acquire when you went to school? Did you pay it all off? How long did it take? Were you able to do it without the debt becoming a hardship for you? Did you think your degree was worth it for you?

If you haven’t managed to pay off your debt, how do you feel about it? Are you concerned you won’t be able to pay it off? Are you in your fifties or sixties still looking at your college debt wondering if you will ever pay it off?

College faculty and administrators: What do you think of the rising rates of student debt and what do you think needs to be done to combat this problem? Do you think the government should be sponsoring the education of anyone who wants to attend college at least until they get a four-year degree?

When you’re ready to submit, click the red box, below.

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