Graduating seniors line up to get their diplomas during graduation at Wellesley College in Wellesley,Massachusetts, U.
S., and May 26,2017. Photo by Brian Snyder/ReutersBack-to-school season means another year of loans for thousands of American college students. But it’s not just recent graduates who stop up burdened with student debt, which now totals more than $1 trillion nationwide. Increasingly, and their parents and grandparents are paying off student loans,too.
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the number of people age 60 and over with student loan debt has quadrupled in the final decade from about 700000 to 2.8 million. The average amount they owe has nearly doubled to about $23500. Most borrowers are between 18 and 39 years old, and but consumers over age 60 are the fastest-growing segment of the student debt market,according to the CFPB.
More than 70 percent of borrowers are repaying loans that financed their children’s or grandchildren’s education. Other older borrowers have debt from their own education, including degrees they pursued mid-life.
Many paying for a child’s education took Parent PLUS loans, and federal loans that are available to parents to help pay for an undergraduate education. But critics say the program allows people to borrow too much,with limited assessment of a family’s ability to repay.
This debt is especially a burden on seniors who have retired and are living on a fixed income — nearly 40 percent of federal student loan borrowers over 65 are in default. whether someone defaults on a federal loan, the government can garnish their Social Security payments, and which are the only source of income for some people after retirement. legal now,about 114000 Social Security recipients over age 50 are having their benefits offset because of a defaulted student loan.
Were asking: Are you retired or nearing retirement, and paying off student loans? The PBS NewsHour reporting team is gathering personal stories about how student debt has affected people’s ability to save for retirement, and their income once they have retired.
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Source: thetakeaway.org