24/7 Wall St.

Student debt has become one of the largest credit problems in the United States. The total sum is $1.3 trillion owed by over 40 million people. The overall delinquency rate on these loans is over 10% of the total and growing. New research shows that over 50% of four-year college graduate borrowers from the class of 2017 regret the amount they have taken out in loans.

The conflict about student debt is simple. Many students cannot afford higher education costs. They believe they need degrees to get good jobs, not just at graduation, but over their lifetimes. They take out loans. For many, the debt becomes too burdensome for their incomes to cover. Their higher education costs have put them in a bind. The severity of the problem can be measured by the fact that default rates continue to rise, posing a threat to lenders and the credit ratings of the graduates.

Student Loan Report recently released data on the Class of 2017 which takes the measure of the problem:

• 27.50% of respondents incorrectly believed the Department of Education would forgive all, or part of, their student loan balance
• 53% believe there is a fee to consolidate federal student loans. It is a free service, but many borrowers get scammed this way!
• 54.75% regret taking out the amount of student debt that they did
• 20.25% believe there are no negative consequences for the cosigner if they make a late payment on a private student loan

Methodology: This poll was commissioned by Student Loan Report and conducted on Pollfish, an online polling company. The poll was conducted on May 22, 2017. Respondents were four-year college graduates from the class of 2017 with student loan debt. A screener question was used to ensure participants met those requirements. In total, 400 student loan borrowers were polled. Each respondent was asked to complete the questions with the utmost honesty and sincerity.