Student Loan Debt May Lead to More Defaults

Student loan defaults may soon be on the rise:

As Americans curb their spending and battle to keep up with credit cards and mortgages, another type of debt is starting to overtake people: student loans. Although the U.S. has experienced economic downturns before, never has one converged with such high levels of student debt.

Total borrowing for school has more than doubled to $85 billion in the 2007-2008 school year from $41 billion 10 years earlier, adjusted for inflation, according to the College Board, the research and testing concern. Meanwhile, subsidized federal aid has remained relatively flat at $42.8 billion per year.

The fear is that default rates on student loans will increase, as seen in the mortgage and credit-card worlds. SLM Corp., or Sallie Mae, the largest private student lender, reported a delinquency rate of 9.4 percent in September, up from 8.5 percent a year earlier. "It's clearly because of economic conditions," said spokesman Tom Joyce. "The credit crunch has washed onto the student-loan beach."

Read the article at Indystar.com.