In a survey of young people in today’s economy, 79% believe that a college education is a vital factor in their future. With this many people planning on attending college, and that number likely to increase, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the availability of careers upon graduating will increase as well. Unemployment rate for recent graduates has reached 9.1%, the highest rate in recent history. The fact of the matter is, whether these people are able to secure a career or not, the debt accumulated while in college will be present either way. The majority of this debt is from student loans, with only an astounding 21% of students graduating with a manageable amount of student loan debt. This has led to 8.8% of 2-year cohort students defaulting on their loans at the end of 2010 (over 320,000 people). Financial Aid options, such as the Pell Grant, offer money to low income students, but politicians today are even looking to lower these grant amounts to reduce the U.S. deficit.

From: topcollegesonline.org