The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report this week detailing the impact of student loans on the economy and outlining the main roadblocks students face when paying back their loans.
According to the financial aid office at Georgia State, students borrowed more than $90 million in 2011, part of the $1.1 trillion debt currently weighing down the national economy.
“It’s eye-opening,” said Louis Scott, director of Financial Aid at Georgia State. “We have over 32,000 students and most of them are in debt.”
That has real consequences for some students like sophomore Kevin Sonukan.
“It’s stressful to talk about tuition, let alone housing, with my parents,” Sonukan said.
Citing 28,000 complaints from institutions like the American Council of Education, the American Medical Association and the Congressional Budget Office, the student loan affordability report detailed the ways student loans were carelessly being handed out, especially those unmanaged by the government, private banks and credit unions, according to the CFPB.
Some of the debt roadblocks detailed in the report were problems getting a job, choosing a field of study, starting a business and bankruptcy.
“Loans are keeping people from living a full life after college,” student librarian Anjelica Manson said. “They keep you from helping your kids.
Manson added that students are no longer taking any real big risks, like buying a house or investing in retirement funds.
“I think it’s sad,” Manson said. “People must live paying it off their whole life.”
Although the economy is being negatively affected by student loans, there is growing concern from the feds, who held a press call last Wednesday in search for solutions. In the mean time, many students balance the costs of living with going to school so that they can find a job with their degree.
“I work to pay off my loans and help my parents with tuition,” Sonukan said. “I am doing everything I can to get a good career after college.”
