Student Loan Debt and the Culture of Borrowing

The Federal Reserve predicts student loan debt will pass the $1 trillion mark this year. Students are taking out twice as much as they did 10 years ago (even after adjusting for inflation,) and can't pay it back. From politicians to protesters, Americans are offering solutions to this seemingly impossible problem.

But students aren't the only ones with a spending problem. Let's not forget to look at everyone's role model, the biggest borrower of all: the federal government. The United States is already $15 trillion in debt, and Congress may raise the debt ceiling (yet) again so we can spend even more.

Student loans in themselves aren't the problem; they're just a symptom of a larger, deeper one. We live in a culture of borrowing, where people take what they think they deserve and expect someone else to deal with the consequences. Inherent to the word "borrow" is an understanding of repayment - but our culture seems to have forgotten that. Read Full Story