America’s colleges welcomed nearly 20 million people to campus last fall. College enrollment has shot up 30 percent in roughly two decades. Given that college graduates earn 56 percent more than high school graduates, that’s great news.
The bad news? Tuition is increasing faster than the general inflation rate and has been for many years. Today, 44 million Americans are saddled with student loan debt, totaling $28,500 on average. Graduating professionals may be able to pay that debt. But for others, especially those who didn’t even finish, student loans can be a crushing, dispiriting challenge.
To help students address their debt, Congress has set up several programs that allow borrowers to tie their monthly payments to their post-graduate income.