College Cost Reduction Act Helps Indebted Students

The facts are kind of depressing: of all the four year college graduates in America, nearly two thirds have student loan debt to repay after graduation. The average amount of student loan debt for these graduates is $20,000. Medical and other graduate-level students can owe much more by the time they’re done.

So what does this mean for these young people’s futures? Some take jobs that pay higher wages, even if the job is not a good fit for them. Others work more than one job to make ends meet. Still others have to put off their dreams, such as home ownership, until their debt load is lightened. Those who can’t repay their student loans face bad credit and the garnishment of income tax returns.

Of all the indebted students, the worst of the worst come from New Jersey’s Seton Hall University, where 61% of students owe an average of $37,000. At the other end of the scale is Princeton University, where 26% of graduates owe about $5,000 each.

But there is hope for students everywhere: the federal College Cost Reduction Act will cut interest rates on student loans in half, will place a cap on how much of a graduate’s income can be devoted to federal loan repayment, and will increase the number of grants given to low-income students. Compared to multiple jobs and mounting stress levels, doesn’t a little debt relief sound nice?