How Many Pinocchios for Common Beliefs about Student Debt?

Christopher B. Nelson, president of St. John’s College, Annapolis, at SignPosts for Liberal Education,

"But what about the $1 trillion student debt crisis we keep hearing about? The fact is that the vast majority of that debt is held by two types of borrowers: (1) graduate students, who presumably take on more debt in return for higher pay eventually; and (2) students who attended for-profit colleges, which are the principal drivers of the growth in student debt.

"Graduates of private, independent colleges, on the other hand, end up averaging somewhere between $25,000 and $31,000 in student debt for their entire four-year degree. While this is a sizeable sum of money, if financed prudently over one’s working lifetime, it is a very manageable amount of debt in return for the benefits it confer."