Report: Colleges Don’t Do Enough to Prepare Students for Their Mountain of Debt

Photo by Wally Gobetz on Flickr/Creative Commons

Attending college is an expensive endeavor, and it’s only getting worse. Tuition has steadily risen, inflating a student loan debt bubble that stands to bankrupt an entire generation of Americans. Are schools doing enough to educate their students about debt?

While a large majority of college students will graduate with student loan debt, an even greater number of soon-to-be graduates say their alma mater did not provide them with an adequate understanding of debt and personal finance, according to a new survey by Experian. These soon-to-be grads feel the deck has been stacked against them, and many already expect to defer on payments.

Sixty-nine percent of participants said they will graduate with student loan debt, while 71 percent said they did not learn about credit or debt management in college. Seventy-two percent were concerned about how they’ll pay back their student loan debt, while one in five students surveyed gave their college or university an F for preparing them for how credit works.

And yet, Millennials are awfully optimistic, despite their lackluster prospects. Fifty-three percent of those surveyed said they feel that being debt-free is attainable in today’s economy.

You can check out Experian’s full findings here.