According to a survey conducted by OnePoll by Splash Financial, they found that some students would do some outrageous things to erase their student loans. You have noticed my highlighting of the word ‘erase’ since it appears that some want to avoid the paying off process. Which is fair. I know it is difficult, I have first-hand experience. For someone who does not play the lottery, I certainly daydream about winning and using the money to pay them off.
The study is that of 2000 people, half have only undergraduate degrees and the other half hold postgraduate degrees. All have student loans.
Now, the thing that has been making the rounds is the click-bait title saying that students would erase their student loans by spending a week in jail, which only 39% said they would do that, less than 1000 persons. The lowest of all the other options. The option with the highest percentage was ‘shave my head,’ at 51%.
Many of the respondents feel that their debt is affecting major life decisions. As I am reading this, I cannot help but feel how financial literacy could have avoided this entire situation for many people. Several suggestions have been made of how we can avoid further accrual of student loans for the incoming generations. The one that stands out to me is having the first day be learning how much income you could earn in a particular career. However, this information has always been available, and easy to find. I am a staunch believer in teaching children financial literacy, and there should be a required class teaching those that are college-bound, how to handle money.