by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
What’s Behind the Screwed-Up Student Loan Fiasco?
Enrollment in higher education in the United States has dropped by 11% from the peak in 2011. That’s a drop of 2.2 million students over the span of eight years, according to data from the Student Clearing House.
But over the same period, when student enrollment dropped 11%, student loan balances have skyrocketed 74%, to $1.6 trillion. The biggest portion of these loans is held by the federal government. It funded them by increasing its own debt.
So what’s going on here with this 11% decline in enrollment since 2011, and the crazy 74% surge in student-loan balances?