It’s that time of year when many high school graduates are anxiously trying to figure out where they will go to college.
But many college graduates are wrestling with another kind of anxiety: How to pay off their student loan debt.
A recent story about the possibility that interest rates will go up for certain newly issued government student loans got many readers talking about their own debt woes.
About 65 percent of the nearly 20,000 readers who took our survey said they are carrying some student loan debt.
Some said they are paying off debt but either don’t have a degree to show for it or haven’t been able to get a job in the sector they studied.
“I have an MBA, $55k in student loan debt, and no job prospects. So much for education making you more likely to find a job.,” one reader wrote.
Others lamented that their high debt load was making it harder for them to keep their heads above water.
“Our Student Loan debt repayment takes almost half of our income. It's crazy,” one reader wrote.
Even many of the readers without student loan debt complained that the high cost of college is making it hard for financially strapped people to achieve the American dream of going to college.
“College education is fast becoming a luxury that only the wealthy will be able to afford in a few years,” one reader wrote.
Others said they feel sorry for those who are juggling high debt loads.
“I am 70 and that stuff is long past me. But I have a great deal of empathy for young people struggling to get an education,” a reader wrote.
Still, not all readers had sympathy for those who have taken out student loan debt.
“Nobody said Capitalism was fair. Going to college is simply another risk in the game of capitalism. It's never too late to learn a trade!” one reader wrote.