Most people in Cuyahoga Falls try to avoid debt and the financial pitfalls that it can carry with it. Yet even the tightest of penny-pinchers has to concede that there are some valid reasons to assume debt, such a buying a home or a reliable car. Financing one’s education would also likely fall into the necessary debt category. This is evidenced by the fact that Americans currently owe nearly $1.2 trillion in student loan debt. Unfortunately, the inability of many to avoid defaulting on their student loans is starting to be felt in the nation’s economy.
Recent graduates, especially in those fields which require extensive graduate and post-graduate education such as medicine and business, are now more than ever migrating toward specialty sectors instead of grassroots positions. In the medical field, this has translated into fewer primary care doctors, while the business sector has seen fewer entrepreneurs establish new companies. Yet the farthest-reaching impact may be in the number of graduates who delay putting money back into the economy by buying homes or cars. Instead, many are opting to live with their families longer as they work to pay off their debts.
Most experts trace the problem to the number of students who took out student loans prior to the most recent recession and then graduated into an economy unable to offer them the kinds of salaries needed to repay those debts. It’s currently estimated that nearly 15% of student loan borrowers are now defaulting on those loans. For many of these students, debt relief through a personal bankruptcy may be the only way to set them on a firm financial footing once again. A bankruptcy lawyer may be good source of information on one’s options in dealing with their student loan debt.
Source: USA Today “The long-term impact of student-loan debt” Pooja Bhatia, Mar. 03, 2014
