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have debt, is up to $37,388. All
told, considering public and private
schools together, more than half of
students have to go into debt to get
through college. Collectively, student
loan debt in the United States is
around $1.77 trillion—and is growing
every year.
The size of the student loan debt
in this country and on the backs of
many college graduates, combined
with the hefty interest rates that
are attached to many college loans,
makes these loans extremely
difficult to pay off over time. Further-
more, while it’s common in the U.S.
to think of college loan debt as a
young person’s problem—one to
be solved in the first years out of
college in the early stages of your
career—Bloomberg reported in 2021
that there were some 8.7 million
Americans over the age of 50 who
were still paying off college loans.
The bottom line is that college is a
major investment, and it’s not neces-
sarily the right investment for every
person. Students with clear career
paths and goals can attend college,
earn their degrees of choice, land
high-paying jobs right out of college,
pay off any debt they have, and be
on their way to great lives. However,
just as common—if not more so—are
students who aren’t certain about