USA TODAY: …Even as Americans held overall consumer debt to a 9 percent increase from 2004 to this year, student debt tripled to $986 billion after adjusting for inflation, according to an Enquirer analysis of Federal Reserve Bank of New York data.
It’s now 8.8 percent of all consumer debt, up from 3.1 percent in 2004.
A system that pushes students to borrow whatever they need to get through college has come under increasing scrutiny as college gets more expensive and a new generation of students is hamstrung by larger and larger debt loads… (more)
EDITOR: In 2011, the “Fertility Rate, Total Births Per Woman” for the USA was 1.9% and it reportedly dropped further in 2012. To maintain an even population, 2.1% is required. The USA rate is higher for some ethnic groups than others. With the cost of sending a youngster through college approaching $150,000, $250,000 if they live away from home, couples may be deciding they cannot afford more than one child, two at the most… if even that.
The costs could be cut in half or more if colleges and universities made use of the Internet so that most of the time students could study from home and take labs at local colleges or universities.
Is Newslanc aware that the cost of education has out paced even healthcare for many years?