In the Red: Debt by Degree for American College Students

Whether browsing through the handwritten signs of the 99% on a Tumblr site, watching the march on Key Bridge last week in Georgetown, or the national coverage of the UC-Davis pepper-spraying incident, OWS is capturing the attention of Americans. The issue of student debt seems to be mounting in media coverage more than ever, especially with the increasing might of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement.

The numbers are staggering. In a November 21st article in the New Yorker, James Surowieki cites that “today Americans owe well over six hundred billion dollars in college debt. That’s a burden that’s hard to carry at a time when more than two million college graduates are unemployed and millions more are underemployed.” At the same time though, the education “bubble” is different than a typical asset bubble, both because it is more difficult to measure the value of a degree and because college-educated kids still do better on average than those with a high education. Even still, the average student graduated last year with $25,250 in debt.

Just today, November 21, 2011, the Occupy Student Debt Campaign launched in New York City. An NYU article covering the launch explains the involvement of students and faculty alike. Andrew Ross, a professor of social and cultural analysis at NYU, led a teach-in last month called “Is Student Debt a Form of Indenture,” and sparked a dialogue that eventually led to Occupy Student Debt. Last week, he explained his involvement to The Chronicle, saying “Like many faculty, I see a lot of suffering and humiliation among students in taking on this debt. There was the recognition that my own salary is debt-financed. … There’s an element of complicity. It’s an incredible burden for faculty to bear.” The movement has four demands: that student loans should be interest-free; that tuition at all public institutions should be federally funded; that private and for-profit colleges should open their financial records to the public; and that students' debt burden should be written off.

The controversy is only going to intensify—and with the audacity of these OWS movements, we may see actual change. I feel so fortunate to have a job for next year, but I still have college-educated friends waiting tables, joining the army, and living with their parents. The implications for our society are daunting. Student debt and a lousy job market are forcing Millennials to rethink their futures, postpone weddings, home purchases, and vacations to make immense monthly payments on loans that will weigh on them for years to come.