As of now the estimated total student loan debt by Americans has reached about 1.6 trillion dollars. To put that into perspective that would be the same value as buying every person in San Francisco a very nice apartment or going back 1 trillion seconds in the past would take you to around 30,000 B.C. Many people don’t understand the severity of the situation and I hope that these comparisons help people understand the enormity of 1.6 trillion dollars. The crisis is consists of two parts. The rapid increase in the average college tuition and the lure of loan forgiveness by the loan servicers.

One of the main reasons why the national student loan debt is still on the rise is because the national average salary is not keeping up with the rise in tuition costs. I think that universities should think more about the future of their students and really try to optimize tuition so that their students are successful after they graduate. This would be beneficial to the colleges themselves because successful alumni mean that more people are gonna donate to the school. While colleges might make more by charging more in tuition they stand to gain more in the long run. Successful alumni can also boost the recognition of the school, and make more students want to apply and go there.

The other major component of the student loan debt crisis is because of the loan servicers and how they are taking advantage of their customers. Loan servicers like Navient have taken over the loan management part of the loans from the US Department of Education however, they do not have their student borrowers’ interest in mind. These loan servicers are detrimental to the student borrower’s finances because as they get behind on their payments, they will have to pay more interest, it is a continuous cycle that hurts the student. In the long run, loans have been ruining this generation as it is causing them to delay plans on retirement, purchasing a home or even starting a family. I believe that the US Department of Education needs to take a closer look at these loan servicers to ensure that their main goal is to help the borrowers.

Certain people are taking a toll more than others because of the crisis. Because of the wage gap between women and men, it makes it more difficult for women to keep up the same progress in their payments. As of 2019 women make about 80 percent of what men make, which makes it more difficult for them to contribute as much to their student loans. I think that is really unfair for women because even though they are paying for the same education and gaining the same skills as the men they are being paid less.