Report: College graduates with high debt face long-term health issues
According to a new study via Gallup.com, college graduates “who took on the highest amounts of student debt, $50,000 or more, are less likely than their fellow graduates who did not borrow for college to be thriving in four of five elements of well-being: purpose, financial, community, and physical.”
In short, debt may cause negative health issues.
The survey has an area of 25-years as Gallup only polled individuals who graduated college between 1990-2014. What the study found is that graduates who are burdened with $50,000 or more in student loan debt may struggle to repay their loans, which in turn has causes them to delay making large purchases, e.g. buying a new home.
Those saddled with debt are unable to save as much as their counterparts who do not have as much debt or none at all, and Gallup’s “thriving gap,” percentages between those with $50,000 in debt less the percentage of student’s without it, shows an 11 point percentage spread between the two parties.
The study also found that more recent college graduates seem to be performing worse than those who graduated prior to 2000. Those who obtained a college degree between the years of 1990-1999 are doing better socially, physically, and in purpose.
What this inquiry portends is that the government and colleges and universities will have to seriously tackle the issue of rising tuition costs as well as student loan debt.
Because student loan debt now outweighs credit card debt and has surpassed $1 trillion, America has a full blown fiscal crisis on its hands. With wage growth still stagnant and many individuals going without full employment, this crisis will likely get worse. That will mean more health issues and many former graduates with void savings accounts as well.
I can see the direct correlation between high amounts of debt and well being. I would be weighed down if I had the huge burden of tens of thousands of dollars I needed to repay, but a salary that didn’t make that easy.
Students may face long term health issues, and I am sorry to hear that, but we still need to encourage them to obtain their degrees. They’ll struggle more if they don’t go to college and make little money and work stressful jobs.
It saddens me that so many students are saddled with such huge sums of debt — but I still think it’s worth it for these young adults to attend college. The direct correlation with long term health issues doesn’t really shock me, but it is very unfortunate. That type of stress and worry about repaying those dollars, I imagine, are very bothersome.