Student debt is growing at an alarming rate. At the end of 2011, total student loan debt crossed the $1 trillion mark, a level that is higher than the sum of all credit card debt in the United States. Already, this category of debt has been likened to the subprime crisis, raising worries that a potential delinquency crisis could find its way into the wider economy.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday revealed that outstanding student debt crossed the $1 trillion mark last year, 16 percent higher than an earlier estimate by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. At $1 trillion, this category of debt is much higher than the sum total of credit card debt in the United States.
Student debt has been called a defining characteristic of this generation and tuition fees in American colleges, private or public, are on the rise. Since 1982, the cost of a college education has risen 439 percent.
With Apple’s decision to revamp iBooks, many are keen to see how the product would revolutionise textbooks and the education industry. But what impact does it have on the cost of education, for students, parents, and governments?
With the recent news of Apple’s move into textbooks – iBooks 2 – could this revolutionary move into the education industry work out? In particular, what are the costs involved, and can America afford to bring technology into every classroom?
Almost two-thirds of all undergraduates in America take out education loans, and the total size of student debt is expected to cross the $1 trillion mark this year. With the weak job market out there, how are students expected to pay off their loans? Is the next big bubble really about to burst?
Getting into a good university is not an easy feat. Securing a job upon graduation, in the current economic climate, is not easy too. However, the biggest challenge for most university graduates is paying off their education loan. It may sound preposterous that some have called higher education the next big bubble. Hardly surprising: The sum of student debt stands higher than credit card debt across the United States.
In 2011, Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, venture capitalist and part of Facebook board of directors, warned that higher education was a bubble waiting to burst.
The education industry consists of schools, colleges, universities and various private institutions. The education sector can be broadly classified into three categories:
