DEBT MOUNTS FOR COLLEGE GRADS

College students in New York are diving even deeper into debt. Sixty-one percent of New York state students graduate with college debts, owing an average of $26,271. A survey of bankruptcy attorneys this year revealed that 81% had seen an increase in clients with student debt problems, prompting the National Association Bankrupcty Attorney's next mortgage-style economic crisis it the"student loan debt bomb." The typical college graduate earns an estimated $650,000 more than the typical high school graduate over a 40 year work life. But postsecondary education comes at the cost of assuming burdensome debt. The Pew study revealed that while 94% of parents expect their children to go to college, 75% of the public believe college is too expensive for most Americans to afford. Tuition and fees for four-year private colleges have increased from an average of $4,113 per academic year in 1081-1982 to $28,500 for 2011-2012, not counting room and board. The average public institutions increased from $909 to $8,244. Many of the people getting hammered by student loan debt are over 50 years old. They are parents who co-signed these loans. Now, they are robbed of their retirements because their kids graduated and didn't find the professional opportunities they expected. Foregoing college means getting an even worse job or no job at all.