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Behind The Student Debt Crisis—–Stagnant Middle Class Wages
davidstockmanscontracorner.com / By Jillian Berman at Marketwatch /
But Bair’s economic background certainly influences her new job. In her inaugural speech in September, she highlighted the financial concerns dogging students as they enter and graduate from school. MarketWatch spoke with Bair about student debt, college affordability and her plans to address these in her new role. Below are some of the biggest takeaways from our talk:
One of the biggest causes of the student debt crisis is that Americans haven’t seen a raise in years
“You have this dynamic of declining real wages and an increased need for a college degree,” she said. “And so what you end up having is more and more young people applying to college with fewer families able to pay for it.”
Between 1980 and 2013, middle-class workers have seen their incomes barely budge, and low-wage workers have actually seen their incomes decrease, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. At the same time that Americans have less money to pay for college, a degree has become an increasingly important ticket to the workforce. The gap between the earnings of high school and college graduates hit a record high in 2013 in large part because the wages of high school graduates have dropped off precipitously over the past few decades.
The origins of the student loan crisis have parallels to the origins of the mortgage crisis, Bair said. In both cases “very well intentioned” government programs made it easier for Americans to borrow for housing or school without getting a true sense of whether borrowers will be able to repay those debts.
The post Behind The Student Debt Crisis—–Stagnant Middle Class Wages appeared first on Silver For The People.
Source: http://silveristhenew.com/2015/10/17/behind-the-student-debt-crisis-stagnant-middle-class-wages/
