www.metro.us Monday, April 22, 2013
EDUCATION
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Student loans strain younger Americans Money. Life is hard for a generation piled under a total of $1 trillion in student loan debt. Younger Americans are increasingly struggling with the burden of student loan debt and appear to be retreating from home ownership and car debt, according to a recent study. Historically, the median age of first home purchases has been about 30 years old. Home ownership rates were significantly higher for 30-year-olds with a history of student debt because this population tends to have higher levels of education and higher income. But the recession and the subsequent surge in student loan debt delinquencies appear to have flipped this trend, accord-
The recession has made it harder for young people to afford things like home ownership. GETTY IMAGES, WAVEBREAK MEDIA
ing to a study by Meta Brown, a senior economist and Sydnee Caldwell, a senior research analyst in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Research and Statistics Group. According to the New York Fed data, 43 percent of American 25-year-olds had student loan debt in 2012, up from 25 percent
in 2003. Americans owe about $1 trillion in student loan debt. “Consensus is growing about the student debt domino effect on the economy,” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau student loan ombudsman Rohit Chopra says. “There are implications for all of us.” REUTERS