Americans who fled the country to escape their student debt
So the article mentions the average college graduate has $30,000 in debt, which doesn&#x27;t actually seem that bad. That&#x27;s the average price of a new car in the U.S. (And, until recently, the average American bought a new car every ~4 years.) The usual rule is that student debt shouldn&#x27;t exceed your expected first year income, and the median starting salary for a college graduate is considerably over $30,000. So the debt load seems quite in line with recommendations.<p>The article is also missing key bits of information. For example, Chad graduated in 2011, and started in 2007. So he should be eligible for federal income-based repayment, which should key his student loans to his income level. That&#x27;s a really important fact. 92% of all student loan debt is currently owed to the federal government. Although there have been various programs over the years, those loans have had some sort of income-based repayment plan since 1994: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ibrinfo.org&#x2F;existingidr.vp.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ibrinfo.org&#x2F;existingidr.vp.html</a>. Currently, your payments are 10% of your income above 150% of the federal poverty level. So if Chad is making about $25,000 per year (corresponding to about $1,700 per month take home), his payments would be just $640 per year, or $50 per month under the current PAY-E scheme.<p>I find it curious that articles on the student debt crisis never mention that information. I feel like these articles always pick out exceptional cases (recent graduates who have private loans, for example, even though almost all new student loans are federal). Then they try to link it to the overall $1.6 trillion student debt issue, failing to mention that almost all of that debt is subject to the federal government&#x27;s income-sensitive repayment options.