college debt
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How screwed are you? A college debt calculator
While visiting North Carolina in May, President Obama disclosed that he just finished paying off his student loans eight years ago. According to a 2011 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, outstanding student debt in the United States stands just shy of $1 trillion. Meanwhile, the average college student attending a public university racked up $22,000 in student debt in 2010. Those are big numbers — and if even the president struggled to pay off his student debt, what chances do today’s college students have?
Do you know how many cold beers you could buy with $22,000? WhichWayNC thought it might be a little less depressing to think of loan debt in terms of toilet paper, cold beers and ramen noodles, so we made a calculator that does just that. (But really, what we’re calculating is how many beers you won’t be able to buy, so maybe this is still pretty depressing.) Try it here.
About The 12
The 12 is a group Tumblr of The Washington Post and student journalists in 12 battleground states documenting the 2012 presidential election and capturing perspectives of young voters.
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Do you have interesting news, notes, quotes, campaign materials or multimedia that we should feature? Do you have something to report about young voters?
Contributors to The 12
amzam
ngjennings
ryankellett
slcarothers
washingtonpostpolitics
alison-noon
cpozernick
haleykmetz
jakepdeschuiteneer
lagore2012
mechellehankerson
news-junkie
rileyjsnyder
sarahglen
tessafox
thatgoeshere
thejadedouso
themizzou12
tylerborchers
ymgonzal
zachtilly
