Facts About Crushing Student Debt

• Over the past two decades undergraduate student loans have supplanted grant aid as the primary way students finance their college education. In 1999-2000, the average student loan debt for a full-time student at a four-year institution was $16,928, up from $9,188 in 1992-93.

• An increased reliance on student loans has resulted in a growing number of debt-ridden graduates entering the workforce. In 2004, two-thirds of all four-year college graduates left school with student debt. Student loan debt can limit post-collegiate career options like teaching and social work.

• In the most extreme cases, burdensome debt can lead some students to default, resulting in wage garnishment and ruined credit.

• In February of 2006, Congress passed the largest cut to higher education in the history of federal student aid. This “raid on student aid” took approximately $12 billion out of the federal student loan programs to help finance additional tax cuts for some of the wealthiest Americans.

• This year Congress has taken first steps to make college more affordable by passing legislation in the House to reduce student loan interest rates for low- and middle-income students.