College Loans Are a Burden Long After Graduation, Poll Finds – WSJ

• College Loans Are a Burden Long After Graduation, Poll Finds – WSJ

  More debt declining health; all debt should be forgiven for community, military service and hold colleges accountable for not securing full-time employment for their graduates.

  • Students Borrowing More Than $25,000 Score Worse Than Debt-Free Counterparts on Quality-of-Life Measures, Even Decades Later

  • "For the most recent college graduates, the average debt is creeping up towards $50,000 so this is definitely something to be worried about," Mr. Busteed said.

  • High debt also postpones buying a home and getting married, which could delay connecting to a community. And debt creates stress that can hurt physical health.

  • About 70% of college graduates have debt.

  • Recent grads who owed more than $50,000 were 9 percentage points more likely to report feeling their lives lacked purpose;

  • Those who finished college between 2000 and 2014 with more than $50,000 in debt were significantly worse off in all five categories than those who graduated with no debt.

  • But the poll did ask the education level of the respondents’ mother, which is a good proxy for socioeconomic class. Even controlling for that variable, those who graduated with high debt were worse off.

  • "These results offer a new dimension of how college debt affects the rest of your life and it gives us more cause for concern," said Brandon Busteed, executive director of Gallup Education, which conducted the poll in conjunction with Purdue University. "It’s bad for all aspects of your life."

  • Even 24 years after graduation, students who borrowed more than $25,000 are less likely to enjoy their work and are less financially and physically fit than their counterparts who graduated without debt.

  • People who take out significant college loans score worse on quality-of-life measures, a trend that persists into middle age, according to a recent poll of college graduates.

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