It’s not just young people struggling to pay back student loan debt but more and more retirees are struggling due to this student loan debt burden. An estimated 700,000 seniors on Social Security are still paying off student loans. Recently nearly 160,000 of these retirees have had their disability and retirement payments garnished to pay down student loan debt.
The Student loan epidemic carries over to the next generation as well. There needs to be a solution that will forgive seniors on fixed incomes. DJ Rausa of DebtDoc.com states. “This is far too common. The US Treasury can assist the US Department of Education in collecting defaulted student loans by offsetting Social Security Benefits. Yes, the cause of the Defaulted Federal Student Loan is sometimes medical issues, etc. But once those issue arise, other debt resolution options become available. Those options should be explored immediately, long before the offset of benefits occur.”
Out of the $1.2 trillion in student loan debt, two-thirds is owned by people under 40 but one-third or $18.2 billion is owned by seniors over the age of 65. Student loan debt has ballooned over recent years, surpassing the overall credit card debt which is estimated at $703 billion.
Many seniors are not in debt because they have been irresponsible but because of medical hardship. Nearly 60% of all personal bankruptcies are due to unforeseen medical needs. Unlike credit card debt and medical bills, student loans cannot be rectified under one form of bankruptcy. The student loan obligation will be with an individual for life until paid off.
Student loan balances increase and interest rates accrue no matter what an individuals situation may be. Loss of career, cancer treatments, Alzhiemer’s disease or soldiers wounded on the battlefield are not exceptions for student loan debt forgiveness.
Politicians cannot ageee on how to handle this growing problem. With $18 trillion in debt, the US government cannot afford to pay down everyones student loan debt. This should not be the goal to begin with. In certain situations however, that effect a large number of seniors on fixed income, the government should and must find a reasonable solution to forgive some or all of this debt. Student Loan debt should not further punish the elderly on fixed incomes. The US government should not be treating the most fragile of our population with such devastating disregard.