[...] According to a new report by the progressive think tank Demos, “student debt is particularly damaging for individuals who struggle to repay their loans. Delinquent borrowers are saddled with fees, penalties and rapidly accumulating interest; borrowers who default on their loans face ruined credit and a debt often several times their original loan balance.”
Robert Hiltonsmith, who authored the Demos report, noted: “The majority of people struggling to pay back their college loans have relatively small amounts of debt; half owe less than $16,400.”
“This belies the common media portrayal of struggling borrowers as carrying excessive amounts of debt beyond the average, and brings into question whether a higher education system financed primarily by debt is putting undue risk on students trying to build skills and climb the economic ladder,” Hiltonsmith said. [...]
