On College Debt and the Drop-Out Crisis
On Monday the New York Times' published a story about the immense and growing debt burden on college graduates. In 2003, two-thirds of bachelor's degree receipients had college debt, and their average individual debt load was a whopping $24,000.
As the piece, by Tamar Lewin, notes, most economists still consider student debt "good debt" because a college degree raises a worker's lifetime earnings. But what about those young Americans who take out loans to pursue higher education, yet drop out before receiving any kind of degree? Afterall, just 53 percent of students who enter four-year colleges graduate within six years. At two-year community colleges, half of all students drop-
