Julie, who requested that her last name not be printed, shares Goeschel's anxiety about debt. Her situation, however, is a little different. But unlike Goeschel, Julie says she spent the first year after she left school ignoring her debt. She defaulted on two of the loans. Unfortunately, the financial predicament both Goeschel and Julie find themselves in is not so uncommon for undergraduates and graduates juggling college loans and credit-card debt.
Debt accrued through academic loans is a relatively recent phenomenon.
Results of the National Student Survey, 1998. When the program was first implemented, between 60 and 70 percent of the available funds were distributed as grants, with the remaining 30 to 40 percent of the money extended as loans. During the 1980s, says Saunders, that ratio was reversed in order to make HEA money available to more students. But as Fossey points out, university tuition is rising at twice the rate of inflation, so more and more students need to borrow money in order to pay for school. Meanwhile, the government is creating more payment options, including one that extends payment over 30 years .