"Most recent college graduates are burdened with heavy loan debt for years with many delinquent on repayment. In the United States, for example, some 7 million borrowers, or14 percent, are in default, having gone at least a year without a payment on their federal student loans. One in four European Union citizens who earn diplomas in Britain return home countries without paying back their student loans.
Economies will
struggle under the growing mound of student debt as young adults delay
marriage, home purchases and childbirth and have less money to spend on
housing, food, clothes or entertainment. As a consequence, governments can
expect to confront a dilemma concerning increasing defaults on
government-sponsored student loans: enforced repayment versus measured
forgiveness. Likewise, students especially those with limited resources,
struggle over whether to borrow, delay or forgo higher education.”