student loans haunt older folks, too

Here’s a surprising way in which Baby Boomers are more like Millennials than people realize — people over 50 carry almost as big a student loan burden as do twenty-somethings.

According to a report on NPR, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York just released a survey finding that SIX MILLION people over 50 are still carrying student loan debt, either because they’re still paying off their own loans (usually because they went back to school at advanced ages) or are paying off loans for which they co-signed on behalf of their children or even grandchildren. This comes to a total of $36 billion in student loans for the over-50 population, many of whom (the report didn’t specify exactly how many) are in default. Apparently debt collectors are knocking on their doors and Social Security checks are being garnished. And just as with younger people, these older folks get no relief by declaring bankruptcy; in general, even for the officially bankrupt, student loans still have to be paid.

This is one area, I’m guessing, in which middle-aged people would just as soon not feel forever young.

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