Occupy Wall Street: Student-Loan Debt Among Top Concerns

By Mary Pilon of the Wall Street Journal

Student-loan debt has continued to grow despite a financial crisis that constrained credit elsewhere, and the increasing burden amid high unemployment is driving at least part of the protests among the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Last year, Americans began to owe more on their student loans then their credit cards, with student debt reaching the $1 trillion mark. Many have flocked to higher education during the down economy, only to find themselves still unemployed or underemployed.

Zak Cunningham is a 22 year old who graduated from Earlham College in Indiana last spring.

He says he “doesn’t know how much student loan debt” he has, since he hasn’t bothered to count. He doesn’t have a job and wants to go to graduate school, but is worried about the cost.

Cunningham, tall, lanky and bare-chested with a red bandana around his neck and cigarette in hand, is among those flocking to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations at Zuccotti Park. And while organizers say there’s no official “census” of who make up the protester base at Occupy events, the presence of student loan debtors and young, unemployed people, is noticeable. See a chart made by Mike Konczal, who parsed data from the related We Are the 99%.

In general, college graduates have held up better in this recession than those with only a high school degree. But the cost of education was at the root of many of the Occupy attendees’ complaints.

Read the entire post here.

More at the WSJ:

Vital Signs: More Unemployed Per Job Opening

Hard Hit States Having Fewer Children

Fed’s Pianalto: Monetary Policy Alone Cannot Solve All Ills

 

Comments

[thereisonlyoneparty]

10:13 AM on 10/14/2011

Tuition at Earlham College is about $37,000 per year.

Now for most people that type of investment would only be justified if there was a low risk of failure and evidence that the ROI would be rather high.

This guy really represents the poor.  I am sure that the guy down at one gas station during the day and another one at night to cover rent for his family has a degree from a private school too.  Why not forgive their loans so they can have an easier time supporting their families?

[anothersarah]

08:46 AM on 10/14/2011

college costs too much for what you get! (I have 2 kids in college). When I went to a large state university (1979-1983) tuition was so much per quarter hour until you got to 10 hours, and then it was a flat fee of $178/quarter! Yes, books, meals and housing were on top of that, but it was still a reasonable amount. Now the same school charges $6000/semester just for tuition! Do I think my kids are really getting that much better of an education there? NO! But, the student athletes sure do have nice facilities now.
Tuition used to be reasonable, and it was feasible for kids to work their way thru school. I had academic scholarships and I worked - graduated without any loans and my parents didn't pay a dime for my education (they didn't have it anyway). Also, back then we had Pell GRANTS, not LOANS. Where did those go?

[BetterThanYou1234]

05:50 PM on 10/18/2011

supply and demand - enough said

[amyandarthur]

08:53 PM on 10/13/2011

I'm retired..but if I was starting out today ,I would take a serious look at trade schools.....The parties may not be as much fun as those at colleges, but plumbers, mechanics, electricans,etc can find jobs and eventually open their own businesses ...They can also make decent wages without huge student loans.

[AllenFromAtlanta]

08:20 PM on 10/13/2011

If they can't find a job it's their own damn fault.

Sincerely,
Herman Cain

[BetterThanYou1234]

05:50 PM on 10/18/2011

Not entirely true

[brianlasvegas]

07:31 PM on 10/13/2011

The college dream is quickly becoming a college nightmare. Every kid is told to go to college. They get out and can't find the decent job they envisioned. Then they are saddled with debt often over 100k, with no way to pay.

Here is the kicker. You can't bankrupt school debt anymore.

The bottom line is we all need to live with our decisions. I used the 100k I would have spent on college to start a business instead. Life is about risk and rewards. Failure would have left me 100k in debt.

[thamsenman]

06:48 PM on 10/13/2011

From financial aid to Financial AIDS!

Romney/Goldman Sachs 2012

[Benny Belloes]

04:48 PM on 10/13/2011

Most of these rightie paid post don't get the point about student loans. It should not cost as much as it does to go to under graduate school. If this country is ever going to get away from the stupidity that is being demonstrated by those TBaggers the cost of education needs to be much less. First step make those for profit collage institutions illegal. Most of the unpaid debt has occurred at those schools.

[jantomnidrah]

03:56 PM on 10/13/2011

Why get a student loan? Tell them you are an illegal alien and the government will pay, housing, medical food etc. No debt for the student and more time to strike for more free stuff from the dems.

[Maggie K]

04:23 PM on 10/13/2011

Completely false.

[BetterThanYou1234]

05:49 PM on 10/18/2011

unless they use a false SSN/identity

[roxiehart]

03:52 PM on 10/13/2011

Latest Unemployment percentage Bachelor’s degree and higher: 4.2% - September 2011.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

[Peter007]

02:26 PM on 10/13/2011

I saw this coming 10 years ago.
The teachers Unions and the Democrats in Congress devise a plan to increase revenues for the education Industry.

When will you people learn?.
The special interest groups are the "Clients". and the voters are the "customers."
You are a customer and the politicians sell their clients services and products to you.
Politicians are "sales people ".
Buyers remorse ?
Too bad

[sandrita mason]

02:04 PM on 10/13/2011

I don't have student loan debts, but I do think something is very wrong with a system that burdens young people- before they even get started- with crushing, ever-mounting debt that can't be relieved by bankruptcy. These young people are modern indentured servants! They will be working for the rest of their lives to pay off this debt. Pres. Obama said that he and Michelle were able to pay off their massive student loans only after his books became best-sellers. But, there's no windfall for others burdened by student loans. In ancient times "Jubilee" allowed debtors to make a fresh start. Why can't we have Jubilee today?

[sandrita mason]

02:14 PM on 10/13/2011

I just want to add that relief from student loans will allow those young people to spend in other more productive ways: homes, cars, etc. That should stimulate the economy and get it out of this rut.

[Disdain]

02:31 PM on 10/13/2011

With close to a trillion dollars in outstanding student loans, where is the money to come from?

[Media Saint]

04:27 PM on 10/13/2011

If they can not handle the student loan how the heck are they going to be able to handle anything else?

[MMRDO]

01:39 PM on 10/13/2011

No one forced them to go to college, no forced them to go to such expensive colleges, there are scholarships, the GI bill, all kinds of ways of not going into debt if you choose and debt isn't necessarily bad it allows you to get some credit history.

You took out money you could not pay back, and I'm supposed to feel sorry for you? Join the military or work harder to get a scholarship if you don''t want the loans.

[Mondieu]

02:21 PM on 10/13/2011

No one forced you to be so ignorant either.

[MMRDO]

03:52 PM on 10/13/2011

Wow, awesome comeback...

[Benny Belloes]

04:41 PM on 10/13/2011

Yes some one did. People don't get that ignorant with out support form the family. People like mmrdo think ignorants is a virtue and they want to stay with it.

[Mark Guzak]

04:09 PM on 10/13/2011

WoW, Mr doo, you're just so wrong I don't know where to start.
I was fortunate to go to college on the old GI bill and at a time when society valued diverse education and prospered because of it. Unfortunately too many that benefited from social contracts and infrastructures then failed to pay the fees required to perpetuate those same opportunities. The idea of a self-made man is is misleading, because those of us that wildly succeed in America do so by standing on the shoulders of giants; people and policies that in the past prepared for the future. And then came the Cons, folks and Transnational interests that now have their financial well-being disconnected from 99% of American's interests and securities.
America's interests are being harvested and put into the pockets of opportunists with the Assistance of Faux-Patriots, film@11....

[MMRDO]

07:57 PM on 10/13/2011

I'm not saying be a self made man, though your notion that it doesn't exist is blown to bits by Carnegie, Gates, Jobs, etc.

Your inability to pay a loan does not constitute the governments responsibility to pay your loans, that's preposterous.

[field-man]

01:29 PM on 10/13/2011

they signed the loan papers dint they?

[Mondieu]

02:25 PM on 10/13/2011

The banks took the risks didn't they? Why do they reap the benefits when it works out but tax payers have to bail them out when it doesn't?

[Mark Guzak]

04:13 PM on 10/13/2011

Well maybe, make the banks produce the original contracts and documentation. Make them show a legal chain of custody as they transfer loans and collect.

[James Haun]

01:28 PM on 10/13/2011

I work my 40/wk and go to school in the evenings at an affordable state university...I have no sympathy

[Mondieu]

02:23 PM on 10/13/2011

Don't loose your job and better pray your affordable college stays that way because no one will have sympathy for you either.

[James Haun]

03:23 PM on 10/13/2011

I don't expect, or want, anybody's sympathy...in this world you have to earn what you want because nobody is giving it away. You make choices, you buy a ticket, then you ride the ride.

[Redtom]

04:13 PM on 10/13/2011

If you did lose a job it is possible to defer your loans until later. Both my wife and I had school loans which were repaid over a period of 20 years.

[Mark Guzak]

04:28 PM on 10/13/2011

Millions invest in an education, and now bear the entire risk and cost. In the not so distant past we as a society bore much of that burden because we grow stronger having an educated diversified workforce. Our competitors internationally know this too well. Your attitude is the genesis of the weakening of America snd how we arrived at this point. Today many of our nations universities couldn't even teach science courses without foreign PhD students. The road is now one that American students are not well prepared to travel, not intellectually, but financially.
So think about this challenge facing our nation more broadly, and not just in a way that twists your arm patting yourself on your back. But I'm afraid you'd probably never take a class that fostered critical thinking... ( such as anthropology) even if it was free.

[James Haun]

05:36 PM on 10/13/2011

why would I take an anthro class to see through all this bull?

[CVaughn]

01:27 PM on 10/13/2011

As the mom of a new college grad, I understand the fear of these kids. They did what they were told would make them successful. They went to college, they got the grades, many of them worked and did internships. They pursued the dream that was sold to them. Now they are left with no jobs and a pile of debt, while watching the government bail out wall street and big banks - with NOTHING coming back to help the people.

My own daughter graduated last May - worked all the way through college, had help from us (although we couldn't pay it all) went to a state school, and graduated with honors. Now she is applying for jobs at Starbucks for $9 an hour, just so she can pay her student loans. This is NOT the dream she was sold - she would LOVE a job, NOT a handout.

[Peter007]

02:31 PM on 10/13/2011

We had 30 million immigrants come to the US at the start of the last century. Not many had college degrees or skills. That entire generation was able to become absorbed into the American dream machine. They opened shops and started businesses.
Those opportunities don't exist today. You should ask yourself why.

[amyandarthur]

03:20 PM on 10/13/2011

Yes ,those opportunities still exist today....for the ones willing to WORK for them !

[Foxpooz]

07:22 PM on 10/13/2011

Walmart - and those like it. Cookie cutter corporate profit machines. It killed the uniqueness and diversity of business--not to mention new opportunities for those without a million bucks.

[Geski]

11:09 AM on 10/15/2011

It seems we are in a very difficult hard learning time for the World not just the country.
I think everyone can justifiably blame someone else for all the problems that are facing us right now and the young kids are having to learn a real hard lesson of life right now.
You either take charge and fix it as best you can or fall into the abyss.
No question there is a lot of blame to go around the Government screwed up big time (they usually do – but it’s still better than a dictatorship) corporate head are raping their own companies left and right, Sports figures and entertainers are way, way over paid and the blame is never ending, I don’t see how any of this is going to change without a total collapse of financial system. but I feel that would only create even tremendously more long term bad, bad times.
(continue)