The total amount of outstanding student-loan debt among graduate students has reached $155 billion, according to data from a survey by the U.S. Department of Education.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that student loan debt is not just a problem for young college students.
“Growing numbers of adults nearing the end of their careers are accumulating such big debt, and they don’t have a lifetime to pay it back,” said the article.
Student loan debt is growing out of undergraduate students and is growing fastest with adults 50 and older. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York states the average student debt with people in that age group is $19,000.
In the survey from the U.S. Department of Education, the number of people over the age of 50 enrolling in graduate schools more than doubled in the past two decades.
More than 182,000 people over the age of 50 are enrolled in graduate school.
Many people seek graduate degrees to increase their chance of getting a job and making themselves more marketable.
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