F I N A N C E
24
Edited by
Pat RegnierThe Wilsons are hardly the kind of couple you’d
expect to find locked in a latter-day debtors’ prison.
Jon works as a manager for an online transcription
business. Vicky is a digital marketer for a semicon-
ductor company. They’re both 37, and together the
Austin couple makes more than $150,000 annually.
The Wilsons owe $260,000 in student loans for
college and a pair of master’s degrees for Vicky.
Even worse, though they’re meeting their $1,300
in required monthly payments, their balance has
remained roughly the same over the past yearbecause Vicky’s outlay doesn’t cover all the inter-
est on her loans. For all their education and career
success, the Wilsons can’t envision repaying their
school debts—ever. And forget about buying a home
or opening a college fund for their 3-year-old son.
“We don’t even think about it,” Jon says.
It’s no secret that America’s young adults will
take a long time to pay off their student loans. But
few know that this generation of borrowers is chip-
ping away at their debt so slowly that some may not
escape it until they’re dead.The Lasting Burden
Of Student Debt
Paying off the $1.6 trillion bill for higher education could
take U.S. borrowers a lifetime