The latest TIME offers more information to support George Leef’s thesis.
[Amanda] Vodola, 22, graduated from Fordham University with a degree in English. “I grew up with this narrative that to get a good job I need to go to school,” she says. But the job she has “is not enough to pay the bills.” And the bills she’s dreading most are the ones tied to that narrative: the $30,000 she owes in college loans.
In November, when their six-month grace period runs out, Vodola and millions of other students who graduated in May have to start repaying their loans. Repayment requirements for private loans kick in regardless of whether borrowers have found jobs. Since employment rates for recent college grads have plummeted in the past two years, as have starting salaries, the possibility of a sharp rise in student-loan delinquencies has led some analysts to predict that this could be the next subprime-mortgage crisis, rippling into the wider economy. Total U.S. student-loan debt, which exceeded credit-card debt for the first time last year, is on track to hit $1 trillion this year.
The members of the class of 2011 have a frightening footnote on their diplomas: Most Indebted Class Ever–and this year’s seniors are on track to surpass them.
