In an era of rising tuition and student debt, many are beginning to question the value of college. While estimates indicate that the median gap in annual earnings between a high school and college graduate is $19,550, the Class of 2016 enters the workforce with $37,172 in student loan debt. Given this new reality, apprenticeships and early entrance into the workforce are gaining traction as alternatives to the expense of college.
Are all college graduates destined to enter the workforce buried in student loan debt? Is higher education still a good investment? Matthew M. Chingos, Ph.D., author of The Game of Loans: The Rhetoric and Reality of Student Debt, written alongside Beth Akers, argues that the narrative of a student buried in unpayable debt is untrue. The amount of student debt is not the crisis, according to their research. Rather – there are many other crises, ranging from students’ lack of knowledge about how much they’ve borrowed, to defaulting on student loans.
Matthew M. Chingos, Ph.D.
Director, Education Policy, Urban Institute, and author, The Game of Loans: The Rhetoric and Reality of Student Debt
