Journal Article

Student Loans: A Primer

Abstract: On average, higher education is a great investment: The average person with a four-year degree earns substantially more than the average high school graduate, and the cost of that degree is well below the financial benefits that are derived. However, borrowing to pay for education has risen dramatically in recent years, with outstanding student debt recently passing $1 trillion, which is almost four times the debt incurred in 2004. Today, an increasingly large number of borrowers are unable to make their student loan payments,4 which raises concerns about what this means for individuals and for the economy as a whole.

Keywords: student loans; student loan debt;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Part of Series: Cascade

Publication Date: 2014-01

Volume: 1

Order Number: 84