Students today, debt slaves forever

MSN reports:

As college tuitions rise, so, too, do student debt loads. The average yearly cost of a private four-year college in 2008-09 was $25,143, an increase of 5.9% from the year before, and $6,585 for a four-year public school, up 6.4% from 2007-08, according to the College Board. With tuition levels as high as they are, many students have no alternative but to fund their schooling with loans. Among graduate students in 2007-08, 55% borrowed money for a master's degree, and among those seeking a professional degree, borrowers constituted 86%, according to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study.

That's just one part of the story. Students are carrying credit cards to meet other expenses. In 2008-09, 84% of undergraduates had at least one credit card, and half of all college students had four or more cards, according to the Project on Student Debt. Of course, the study doesn't say who makes the payments on the plastic, the students or their parents. But with the average outstanding balance on a graduate student's credit card sitting at about $8,000, the debt burden carried by young adults can be debilitating.

Where would higher tuition prices(greater than CPI almost every year) be without Pell grants, federal student loans,and other funds from the federal government?