Retired with Student Loans

How many retirees are paying back student loans? Maybe you would find it surprising that Americans over 60 years of age are the fastest growing group of college loan debtors. This is according to a recent article in the New York Times.

More than 2.8 million Americans over 60 are contending with student debt, a number that has quadrupled from 700,000 in 2005

Retired, or Hoping to Be, and Saddled With Student Loans

The article goes on to quote that, according to a 2019 AARP Public Policy Institute report, in 2003 borrowers 50 and older held $47 billion worth of a total student loan debt of $455.2 billion. By 2018, those 50 and older hold $289.5 billion of a total debt of $1.5 trillion. In those 15 years, student loan debt held by those 50 and older increased more than six-times, while the overall student debt merely tripped.

Not Just an Issue for Students

What this points out is that the outrageous cost of college isn’t just a problem for the students. It is also rapidly becoming a problem for their parents as well. And this can land the parents in severe financial situations. The article delves into the lives of several parents who are impacted by the debt incurred by sending their children to traditional colleges. Some parents choose between getting a root canal or making the month’s loan payment. Or they choose between helping their own parent living in a nursing home and paying off the loan for their child.

And all the while, traditional colleges seem to focus on making students study classes that have nothing to do with their major and nothing to do with their ability to earn a living – which would allow them to pay off their own debts.

Wrap Up

As I see it, the current environment of rising college tuition, sky rocketing student debt, and colleges that refuse to modernize curriculums cannot continue. There will come a time when the vast majority of Americans no longer pursue a 4 year degree after high school. What’s needed is an educational solution that trains students in the skills they need to have a successful career and trains them only in those skills – a laser tight focus on the purpose of education. And it needs to cost something that the student can pay back without burdening the parents with life-altering levels of debt.

What it needs to do is align the interests of the school, the student, and the employers.