To the next president of the United States, as a senior in high school applying and preparing for college, I am highly concerned about the cost of studying and living at a university, as well as the issue of student loan debt. According to an article by Kelley Holland from CNBC, “the numbers are staggering: more than $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loan debt,”. The increase in the cost of an education is a serious issue not only for students and their families, but the United States economy as well.

I believe that the increase in college costs is discouraging high school students to give their best effort in their classes. Although there are opportunities to receive student loans, they take years to pay off. A few of my coworkers told me that they are still paying off student loan debt in their fifties. Is a college education worth the money? Many high school students and their parents are asking themselves this question. Many college graduates are postponing things like marriage and starting a family because they have to devote their earnings to paying off student loans.

The issue of student loan debt is causing people in their mid twenties to have to put their life on hold and limiting their ability to move on to the rest of their lives. For example, many people are unable to mortgage their first homes because they are still paying off college debt. In addition, people abstain from starting a family because they devote their income to paying off loans. According to an article from CNBC news, “The median age for a first birth has been increasing for years, standing most recently at age 26. And the birth rate among women aged 20 to 29 is now at a record low, and has been declining since at least 2008, according to data from the Center for Disease Control.” Women refrain from having children in fear of not being able to financially support them while paying off student loan debt.

The growing student loan debt in America is slowly but surely causing serious problems for our economy. The lack of people buying homes poses an issue for realtors and mortgage lenders. In addition, our population may begin to decrease if people are unable to financially support a family while taking care of student loan debt. We need to work out a plan to decrease the amount of people struggling to pay off student loan debt. We need to find a way to make college more affordable for low income and middle class families.