Student debt at $1.4 Trillion
This is insane
According to the Federal Reserve Board student debt has surpassed $1.4 trillion dollars with 90% of this debt being secured by the U.S. government. While some may say, increasing prices is ‘normal’ (e.g. lunch today might be $10 when the price was $7 a few years ago) education debt has increased at a rate faster than other major categories of household debt.
From an advancement perspective, it makes little to no sense that the cost of education, has not dropped significantly over time. The cost for complex goods such as air travel, computing power, electricity, and internet connectivity have all dropped over time by multiples — yet the cost of education has steadily risen.
Online providers are creating affordable alternatives (e.g. edX, Coursera) with the promise of bringing down the cost of learning per person dramatically and our startup, Anyone’s Learning Experience (ALEX), is enabling learners that can’t afford the entire program experience to pay for one class at a time, as they can afford it and as it fits with their careers — but the higher education community is still out of reach of most Americans and the world.
There is no easy answer to how to reverse the trend of increasing college costs, but higher education debt is burdening current and future generations, leading to depression for some students and in some cases creating a millennial poverty where citizens with degrees are below the poverty line because of their debt.
We can fit this, but we each need to play our part. Support alternatives to higher education like Caila and other alternative providers. We are aiming to create more affordable paths for people to learn and we can only make it happen with you.
By Sergio Marrero
Co-Founder, Caila
