program.
>> Thanks for having us and it's good to be here. Okay,
let's just start before we get in the work that you have done.
Let's start it.
>> What what we have in terms of like the problem, I mean
give us some of the the the key issues that we're dealing with
when we deal with student debt in terms of numbers of people.
>> Okay, so.
>> Just to put some numbers around this right now we are at
1.7 trillion dollars in student debt. Outstanding that is held
by 45 million people. And this is a rapidly growing source of
debt in the country. The majority of student debt has
actually been incurred in the last
10 years now what's important to keep in mind about the
student that issue in this country is that
student debt is not the same for everybody this is this is a
fundamental thing that we have to keep in mind which is that
the majority of student debt.
He's actually him by people that.
Economically at least are doing pretty well so graduate
students people that want a private nonprofit colleges that
you know they got their law degrees. They got their medical
degrees and they graduated now with you know 6 figure debt but
they're doing pretty well
that's not saying we shouldn't help those folks out because
there are still issues with that in student debt but that's
a separate issue from where a lot of the problems with
student debt or which is for those folks that actually maybe
they have less dead, but they're actually struggling
much more to pay it off in the car counter intuitive things
about student debt issue is that people with lower amounts
of debt often doing worse than people tournaments debt because
people's Norman says Depp those folks that
these are the
that that didn't pay off right so they went to school
and either they didn't graduate because they just had to drop
out or they went to a predatory for-profit college that use
deceptive marketing practices to get them in load them up
with that and give them an education. They couldn't do
anything with so these are the folks that went through maybe
they got 10,020 $1000 in debt, but they never got the returns
to call so their wages, their stagnant. They're doing much
worse than folks with the B but they still have to figure out
how to pay off his 10,020 $1000 in debt.
>> Before we talk about how it's impacting them and their
behavior which is really the center of some of your research
here is I want to just I want to want to go back to that
night a couple of questions and get some more broad data on
these on these people and and then the dollars we're talking
about
when you start when you say the people with the highest amounts
of debt.
Are doing OK economically.
We're not just talking about revenue. We're talking about
revenue relative to the debt that they're carrying in that
instance. It's give me a sense of like what kind of dollar
figures are we talking about for that revenue in white
cohort they represent within the universe of college debt,
holders.
Yeah, so
basically.
>> The first thing to keep in mind is that the returns to
college if you're going to be a gradual score still overall
pretty pasta the person with a bachelor's degree will earn
about they can expect to earn about $600,000 more over the
course of their life.
But then some without a bachelor's degree. So these
folks even though they're taking on an average of $39,000
in debt with just a high DEF
they can usually afford because they're getting this we think
of as a wage premium
from their bachelor's degree afford to
pay that off now they're still having to make a lot of
sacrifices that I think socially set up to move or
having to put off things like buying a home saving for
retirement. They're having to maybe take jobs that they don't
necessarily once because those jobs might pay more of those
and to deal with their their student loan debt. Said this is
not an optimal situation but by and large like those folks who
graduate from college from college pays off. They tend to
be disproportionately
why they tend to be disproportionately high income
and so even though they do struck no one would never
discount instructions. There too.
Better able. The number shown to actually manage existing
student that bird.
>> That they have so how much this event I mean what do they
represent and we should say first off right nobody gets
student debt.
Can do so without showing a sufficient need to begin with.
Obviously some people are better situated than others and
also some people have you know, and I think you could argue
quite easily. That of on of from a racial perspective,
some people are better situated to maximize the value of their
College of their college loans than other people because
they had no other rich people or other people who have
grabbed it college or or what not but what what percentage of
those people that we're talking about who go and get the
maximum are able to get the maximum value out of their
college education. Even though they may be carrying you know
30 4050 $60,000 worth of debt.
Who who are those people
and then be I also want to just asking when we talk about about
all say the second question for later to how many of those
people represent the 45 million might say who have college
debts.
>> So that number I don't have on hand. I would like to I can
I think I can address this question in a slightly
different way which is to note the people the percent of
people that are struggling.
Which is to say and I just I'm you know I did a lot of
background research before we get the study
and one of the things that really struck me is
50% of black students who take on student debt are currently
in default
that is half are currently in default so what we can say is
that for racial and ethnic minorities and black students
in particular.
This is not paying off. And this is this is one of the
reasons student debt, exacerbates the racial wealth
gap and racial inequality because we knew you were dead
on Sam, when he said you know for some people but it's
actually a fairly straight shot to maximize the returns of
college and a student debt, if you are typically wait and
higher income. You have to take on less depth you work targeted
by these predatory schools and he did not enter into a
racially discriminatory labor market. If you are a racial or
ethnic minority, your family I just historically do many many
reasons was lower income so you have to take on more debt.
Due to deregulation you were oftentimes preyed upon through
deceptive practices by predatory for-profit
institutions that did not deliver a quality education.
And so you dredge awaited with more student debt
into a labor market.
That actually pays us your morning. It's hard to find a
job it's hard to find a good job, the just just one point on
this the the standard understanding is that for a
black person to earn the same as a white person, the black
person has to have a master's degree whereas the right person
has to have a B a so this is this is one of the ways and one
of the reasons why we see such a struggle.
For those racial and ethnic minorities, black households in
particular.
>> I understand it. We talk about the flow rate is and
maybe and you can correct me if I'm wrong here, but that the