25 Alarming facts about student loan debt.

There is a debt problem in this country that’s grown to epidemic proportions with no end in sight.  No, we’re not referring to the national deficit, the loss of mortgage equity from the real estate bust, or even rampant credit card debt.  The most pressing debt problem may come from student loans, believe it or not.

The numbers are staggering, and when laid out in sequence, tell a sobering story of the changing face of a new type of poverty, where young people are well educated, yet shackled by the proposition of facing decades of paying off inescapable student loans.

We’ve all heard the horror stories – kids are graduating college addled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, only to face an uphill battle when it comes to getting a job that’s not at Starbucks or for more than retail workers wages.   In fact, 1/3 of college graduates end up taking jobs that don’t even require a degree.  Those low-wage jobs don’t even offer a living wage for things like an apartment and a car, yet alone catch up with student loan payments once their deferment is up. 

Dr. Andrew Jennings, FICO’s chief analytics officer, said recently that the student loan debt situation is "simply unsustainable."

So to fully expose the problem, we did a little digging, combing through reports and studies by the Fair Isaac Corp., the Chicago Tribune, CNNMoney, Newsweek, The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), the Wall Street Journal, TransUnion, and Forbes magazine.

Here are 25 facts about student loan debt that tell the true story:

Student loan debt has hit the $1.2 trillion mark.

$1 trillion of that is federal student loan debt.

With the federal debt at $16.7 trillion, student loan debts measure at 6% of the overall national debt.

Student loan debt tops all other forms of consumer debt in America.

Student loan debt is the second highest form of consumer debt behind mortgages. 

It's the only kind that is next to impossible to discharge in bankruptcy

The majority of student loans are backed by the U.S. government through banks like Sallie Mae, or since 2010, by the Department of Education. 

Based on that fact, the creditor is the U.S. taxpayer because they will be burdened and obligated by the loan if the student defaults. 

The average student debt load ballooned 58 percent from 2005 to 2012 -- from $17,233 to $27,253.  A report by CNN just released puts the number even higher - at over $29,000.

The number of consumers with two or more open student loans on their credit report grew from 12 million in 2005 to 26 million in 2012.

Of the student loan debt originated between 2005 and 2007, an industry boom period, 12.4 percent are 90 days past due, according to FICO.

Additionally, 15.1 percent of loans issued between 2010 and 2012 are 90 days past due.

1/3 of all outstanding student loans as of March 2012 are held by the riskiest borrowers, an increase from 31 percent in 2007.

More than half of student loan accounts - 65.5 million of 128.8 million - are in deferment.

2/3 of students graduating from American colleges and universities are graduating with some level of debt. 

Students completing an associate’s degree from a community college in 2008, 38% graduated with debt. 

In the for-profit sector of two-year degrees, over 90% have debt. 

The average debt load at a public two-year institution is $7,000.

One in 10 graduates accumulate more than $40,000.

60% of students borrow money annually to cover costs.

That’s approximately 12,000.000 students a year.

There are about 37,000,000 borrowers with outstanding student loan debt.

Since 1978, the cost of the average college tuition has gone up 900%.  The cost of living went up approximately 325% in that same period. 

$20,360,000,000 is the reported profit generated from student loan debt each year.  That’s over 20 TRILLION dollars EACH year!

The Department of Education made $101.8 billion from student loans over the last 5 years.