If you would like to go to college in America you better think twice, it may end up costing you an arm and a leg. More than $1 trillion in debt has been accumulated by over 8 million students in the United States to date. Buying a house or supporting a family are being forced to the back burner for these young college graduates after they are plagued with the debt of their college education. Dreams of becoming active members of society and lead a financially stable life are getting out of reach. And it needs to be fixed.

$25 thousand, $30, thousand, and $40 thousand are not out of the ordinary for college tuition. If one plans on furthering their education they will be shelling out this type of money. But in most cases, it isn’t there money after all. The majority of Americans do not have thousands of dollars in their bank account lying dormant so they turn to taking out loans. And with loans comes debt, lots of debt. The total amount of student loan debt exceeds $1 trillion, averaging $40 thousand per student upon graduation from their institution. 

If you plan on paying it off, good luck. The majority of payment plans have an interest rate of five percent and are between the span of 10 to 30 years. Paying $300 dollars a month for the next 12 years you would be able to pay it off. It may not seem like much, $300 dollars a month. But on top of the expenses that are paid every month, like rent, phone bill, utilities, and internet fees, it seems like its a never ending uphill battle. If you fail to pay enough each month, the interest rate will increase your amount and though you are making payments, you are only putting yourself further into debt. It seems impossible and no one is doing anything to fix it. 

People who are new to the workforce are not able to become integral roles in our society because of these payment plans that are in place. Haley Garberg was making $22 thousand per year which was in and of itself not enough to pay for her to live. She was slammed with a plan that cost her $700 per month based on her salary. If it weren’t for the help of her mom and dad there would have been no way she would be able to pay for it. There is clearly a problem in the United States and it needs