Over-educated, Under-employed and Indebted: American Youth's Stifled Potential

In just over a decade, student loan debt has risen five-fold, and is about to surpass $1 trillion. Americans now owe more in student loan debt than they do in credit card debt. The last statistic is particularly shocking given the fact that Americans' credit card debt is once again skyrocketing. All signs point to a coming student loan crisis. Recent graduates are saddled with increasing amounts of debt while struggling to find work that will enable them to pay back their loans, much less use their newly-acquired degrees.

Students are borrowing more than ever to go to college. Tuition at public universities has more than doubled over the last two decades. Two-thirds of graduates with four-year degrees leave school with student loan debt. In 1993, less than half did so. 2011's graduates will leave school the most-indebted ever, burdened with an average of $23,000 in loan debt. That's about three times the amount they owed a decade ago. And, unsurprisingly, the number of students who are defaulting on their student loans rose nearly two percentage points from the previous year to 8.8 percent. That percentage is almost double for students who attended a for-profit college or university, a fast-growing industry that has come under fire for its unsavory business practices.

As their student debt mounts, graduates face an increasingly brutal job market. The New York Times reported,

Among the members of the class of 2010, just 56 percent had held at least one job by this spring, when the survey was conducted. That compares with 90 percent of graduates from the classes of 2006 and 2007. . . . Many have taken jobs that do not make use of their skills; about only half of recent college graduates said that their first job required a college degree.

Thus, college grads face rising student loan debt, unemployment and under-employment, in addition to stagnating wages and other negative economic trends. These factors combine to create a burgeoning economic and social crisis. And it's not confined to this country. Educated and struggling youth from around the world are becoming increasingly restless. Unemployment, particularly among college graduates, has been a source of riots in numerous countries, and even regime change in Egypt. Americans have followed suit and taken to the streets as part of the Occupy movement. Student loan cancellation has been a continuing demand of the participants.

These uprisings are born of desperation, and are unlikely to cease until the youth's economic situation improves dramatically. In America, student loan debt relief is a fundamental component of the Occupation's clarion call for economic justice. And their message is beginning to resonate with many Americans. Graduates should no longer be forced to put their lives on hold in order to pay back their loans: to work jobs that aren't in their fields of study or don't require a college degree, just to make their monthly payments. Yes, they voluntarily took out loans to complete their education. But they are not responsible for the 2008 economic collapse and the ensuing recession. The collapse, caused by the malfeasance of financial institutions and their sycophants in Washington, has made the job market what it is. Moreover, the ballooning debt obligations of students are a symptom of the same misconduct that created the economic crisis: unfettered greed, inadequate government oversight and ineffectual government policy. And now the burden is unsustainable.

By enforcing such loan obligations, we are impeding the potential of millions of young and educated Americans. We are, in the process, stifling the potential of our country. If we relieve graduates of these burdens, we have the opportunity to unleash a creative and entrepreneurial energy that our society desperately needs. Our graduates will have the ability to purchase products, start businesses, and pursue creative endeavors that were once unattainable. 

We have a duty to provide the next generation greater opportunities than were given to previous one. Relieving our young graduates of their student loan debt is a first step toward meeting our obligation.