Selling Organs to Eliminate Student Debt?
As the numbers continually rise on the student loan debt clock, now over $1.3 trillion, a recent survey conducted by MyBankTracker.com concluded that many student borrowers would go to extreme lengths to erase their student debt.
According to the research of 200 respondents, more than 30 percent claimed they would sell an organ to get their student debt eliminated. The research also concluded that 43 percent would sell half of their possessions with 38 percent of respondents claiming they would participate in a “questionable health study.”
The rise of tuition rates has created a rocky financial road for both borrowers and their families forcing students to take on even more loans to cover the cost.
The average 2015 graduate will step off the podium with not only a degree, but also with an average debt amount of $35,051, according to Mark Kantrowitz, student financial aid policy expert and publisher of Edvisors.com.
Additional findings in the research study determined that more than half of respondents would give up their privacy and participate in a reality TV show, with about one-third claiming they would jeopardize their health.
While these are extreme measures, MyBankTracker said it does not condone the use of these measures, although it was interesting to see the percentages of student borrowers who would resort to them, painting a borderline morbid picture of the millennial psyche.
Millennials are living in a fast pace economy and have adapted with a fast-track mind.
“I don’t think they’re making drastic decisions or would take drastic measures – but what it does tell me is that they’d rather get rid of their debt quicker than adapting to it over time and making it part of your day to day reality,” Alex Matjanec, co-founder of MyBankTracker said in a phone interview. “They don’t want to multi-task; they just want to get it out of the way.”
56 percent of student borrowers between the ages of 18 and 29 have put off major life events such as buying a new car or home due to being overly burdened with that debt, according to another survey by Bank Rate Money Pulse.
In the face of the growing student debt crisis, many borrowers between the ages of 18 and 49, claim they did not receive enough information on the risk of taking on student loans and are now feeling financially trapped by them.
Certainly there are ways to reduce student debt such as applying for an income-based repayment option as well was getting debts postponed through deferment or forbearance options, over jeopardizing their health or selling an organ.