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Student Debt the Achilles Heel For GenY and Economic Progress In America?

  • 1.  Student Debt the Achilles Heel For GenY and Economic Progress In America?

    Posted 03-28-2014 03:05 PM

    2012: 37 million Americans are in student debt, avg. debt per person = $29,400, total debt: +1 Trillion dollars. Perspective: There is more student debt than the COMBINED debt of credit cards and auto loans.  2012 debt was 6 times higher than in 1999 and every two years the debt increases by 160 billion dollars which equates to the entire amount of the debt in 1999 (Source FinAid.org).  Affect on country according to Automotive News: Indebted grads buy beaters or nothing, delay purchasing a home, parents that take on student debt buy cheaper cars less often, Millennials discretionary income is reduced severely for a period of ten years, and access to loans are reduced as a result of student loans dinging credit scores.  Hampering progress include startling unemployment facts which include the millennial generation unemployment rate reaching 18 percent compared to 9 percent for the nation during the peak of the recession (and it is still hovering around 15%).  (Source: Generational Imperative Inc., & Young Invincibles)

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    Bryan Harrison
    Speciality Equipment Market Association (SEMA)
    Sr. Manager of Networks
    Diamond Bar CA
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