• 2 in 3 the ratio of students that have student loan debt upon graduation
• $25k in average student loan debt for graduating students in 2011
• 5% the amount the average debt load rises each year; uh, wow source

» Every walk of life now has debt: With $117 billion in new federal student loans in 2011, the amount of total student debt has tipped the scales at over $1 trillion. And it’s not just young folks who are having to deal with lingering debt, either; some middle-aged adults are finding themselves dealing with the issues decades later. “It’s just unbearable to have that type of weight on you and you can’t do anything about it,” said Brenda Small, a woman who went to nursing school in the late ’80s — and rack up $20,000 in debt — only to get injured not long after graduating, making her unable to pay for it.

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