This was written before North Korea proved they had an ICBM of course. Still I don't think they pose that much of a threat to the USA yet. I would still like to see them wiped out before they get to that point though.

I haven't really read up on why student debt is a threat to the USA. I'm sure there is some logic there somewhere though.

It would only take about 300 or so nukes to destroy the world due to nuclear winter. They're a great threat. Humanity as a whole is a great threat to itself.

I had a little over 20.000 euro debt after education, my parents died young so I had to pay most things myself.
It took me 10 years to pay most of it off so far, I still have about 6500 euro to go and hope to repay that in the next 2 years.

But debt breaks you since its hard to loan for a house and even during screening for police and military they don't like debts because they think you can be easely convinced to leak sensative information for money.

Living with a debt is dangerous, for everyone because life, work, health its not sure at all but you having to pay debt each month is something that will not change easely.

So 38.7% total, then I must have had it backwards. But still, almost 40% of that over 1 trillion in deb for garbage education is still serious.

I just saw that its only up to 2010, it could be a lot worse now.

Still beats the hell out of paying for both tuition and textbooks. Working a minimum wage job over the summer could cover book costs in the US. It wouldn't even put a dent in tuition though.

My point, in part, was these type of degrees regardless of how you feel about them, are not a recent trend.  The recent trend is the cost of education and the increase in people that hold degrees.  We see a significant increase in costs while people age 18-35 have seen wages stagnate or decline.  Why so many trends involve lack of savings and spending less.

I think a discussion on what upper level education is and how it should be viewed needs to be discussed.  The cost has inflated so rapidly that for many it has become a bad investment.  Making 30K/year when you have 35K in debt at 22 means a long 10-20 years for most folks.  Brow beating a generation doesn't seem productive, having honest discussions with upcoming generation will adjust expectations and help the market correct itself.  Otherwise I see this having a bubble effect in next 20 years.

I get your point, but it is still up to the individual to accept the terms of that investment by doing a cost/ benefict analisis. If this generation(By the way am part of the millenial generation and did not comit this mistake) sees value in it then its their fault. There are cheaper schools to attend, there are part time clases, there is no need to go out of stated and dorm whyle you can do anything from home. So even whyle its true that education cost have skyrocketed and salarys have decline it still up to the individual to at least think before they act and get into so much debt and for what. 

But like I said before, it was the High Schools that encourage this behaviour. they thought us that we could do anything and the money would come later, just that we needed a college degree to be succesfull. I had many friends who where duped, but I just happened to like medecine and engeniring, a lot where interested in fashion, games, sports and other nonsense now most work in retail. Its not the kids problem is improper education by the teachers before we decided to go to college and Im pretty sure thats something that still goes on.

In my experience the average person doesn't understand finances, and the 16-25 year bracket even less so.  Asking them to figure it out has in part led us down this path.  Can call it condescending, but these things need to be explained to them.  I know many parents with good intentions put pressure on the golden ticket of university and how it assured middle class status.  Why I mentioned a new conversation needs to be had about education, training, and careers.  We, as in millenials, are the first generation since the depression era to take a step backward financially and that new normal brings adjusted expectations.

I think we mostly agree that inflated expectations have come crashing down on people in their 20s and 30s.  I think high school should be more job and life oriented with a subject simply called "life" where you learn skills around the house, understand taxes, how to do all sorts of basic aspects of being an adult.  I know some really smart 18-22 year olds who revert back to 12 year olds when it comes to capacity to take care of themselves and handle adult situations.

Many people who want to become lawyers have to go to Law School, which is a graduate school. For undergraduate studies, liberal arts degrees are sometimes seen as beneficial ("I want to become a lawyer because what I studied in xyz course makes me want to defend this oppressed class").

I agree with what eva01beserk said. High schools do a TERRIBLE job at explaining the scope of college and finances. It's kind of ridiculous that 18 year olds who have lived with their parents their entire lives and have had little to no responsibilities are immediately expected to make $30,000+ decisions in a matter of weeks. An Intro to College, or an Intro to Finance class should be MANDATORY in all US high schools, but unfortunately schools would rather focus on simplifying their curriculum so they can boast "higher graduation rates". In this day and age with rising costs everywhere, schools should empower their students to learn more about money.

I fell in this exact trap myself. It was further exasperated because I am an immigrant and had no clue about American finance. My family thought college was the "golden ticket" to the American dream, and my high school
further promoted that belief, though their intentions were to brag about what % of their graduating class was going to college, rather than helping their students make educated decisions. Fortunately, I chose the medical field and am about to become a doctor, so I'm good. However, most of my high school peers who went to college did absolutely nothing worthwhile with their degrees, and are now working as waiters, cashiers and tellers with 30K+ in debt.