The mountain of U.S. student debt has already been blamed for stopping younger Americans from buying a home or purchasing a car. Now there are reports it may even be stopping them from getting married, according to
NBC News.
There is evidence of fundamental shifts in society brought on in part by student debt, which has hit a staggering high of $1.2 trillion.
"People cannot participate in the American dream because of student debt," Natalia Abrams, executive director and co-founder of StudentDebtCrisis.org, told the network.
Abrams said that even people with decent-paying jobs are delaying a walk down the aisle because of debt. "If you owe $100,000 to $150,000 in student loans, you're paying $1,000 to $1,500 a month. It's cost-prohibitive," she said.
"Everything from saving for a home to saving for retirement is completely off the table."
Recent research from the Pew Research Center shows a record number of Americans have never married. The median age for first marriages is now 27 for women and 29 for men. In 1960, the median age was 20 for women and 23 for men.
According to NBC News, getting married can actually reduce loan payment assistance benefits from some colleges.
Also, IRS regulations can make getting married more complex for those with student loan debt, NBC said. The network said graduates may not claim tax deductions on their qualified student loans if they are married and file separately from their spouse. If a married couple chooses to file jointly for a student loan interest deduction, they cannot be claimed as dependents on someone else's tax return, NBC reported.
A RAND Corp. study this year found that student loan repayment timing is affecting marriage timing for women, although less so for men.
“People are delaying marriage, looking for more fulfilling partners, delaying childbearing. This demographic is people in their late 20’s, and most demographers would agree with that,” said Robert Bozick, a sociologist at RAND.
The standard repayment plan for federal student loans puts borrowers on a 10-year timetable to pay off their debt,
U.S. News & World Report reported, but research shows the average bachelor's degree holder in reality takes 21 years to pay off his or her loans.
Approximately half of current students say that college loan debt is making them reconsider finishing college, according to U.S. News.
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