Yup.
That might be why there is a serious danger of a higher-education bubble.
Read this comment by Holly Finn in today’s Wall Street Journal article Watching the Ivory Tower Topple:
In this new educational model, the shy and the easily distracted get advantages. You can rewind a video and watch whenever and as many times as you like. Plus, teachers save time with computerized grading and students save money. (U.S. college debt, nearly $1 trillion, is bigger than housing or credit card debt.)
More college debt than housing loans? More than credit cards? More than all the houses in the U.S? More than all the credit cards in the U.S.?
Yes.
Wow.
Did some checking. Found these supporting comments:
USA Today, 10-25-11, Student loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion this year:
The amount of student loans taken out last year crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time and total loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year. Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, reports the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the U.S. Department of Education and private sources.
In addition to the bubble issue, there is the impact of not having spending capacity in the near future. The article also has this quote:
“Students who borrow too much end up delaying life-cycle events such as buying a car, buying a home, getting married (and) having children,” says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org.
Consumer Reports, 6-9-11, U.S. Student loan debt set to hit $1 trillion; already outpaces national credit card debt:
Student loan debt has surpassed total credit card debt in the U.S. This year’s graduating class of college seniors had the highest average debt to date, and that total amount is projected to reach more than $1 trillion later this year.
Again, wow.
I’ve been reading for a while of the radical changes facing the higher education world. That debt loan is a serious issue.
More on this article later.