Americans owe $1.2 trillion in student loans, surpassing credit card and auto ...
It's the reason Tiffany Brown, a Queens College graduate, hasn't moved out of her parents' home, and the reason she thinks twice about law school.
It's the biggest obstacle facing Christina Chaise, 24-year-old a graduate student at Columbia's Teacher's College, in her journey from poverty to self-sufficiency.
Brown and Chaise are typical young college graduates in New York - they have student loan debt that will probably affect their choices for decades.
'It scares me,' said Chaise who owes $20,000 but expects to borrow at least another $20,000 before finishing graduate school.
'I have been pursuing higher education to raise myself out of poverty,' she said. 'I grew up in the projects. There's nothing wrong with that, but I want a better life. I don't know if I can do everything I want to do, because I have these bills to pay each month.'
Brown, a 25-year-old project coordinator with the New York Public Interest Research Group, had to take out extra loans after her father had a stroke while she was in college.
She said she thinks about her $30,000 in debt whenever she considers any big purchase or life choice.
'It's impacting my decision whether I want to continue my career,' she said.
Millions of Americans are in the same boat as these New Yorkers. Americans owe $1.2 trillion in student loan debt, a number that has tripled in the last decade. New York State residents hold $60 billion of that debt, and college grads in the state owe on average $27,310 in student loans, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Student loans have passed credit cards and auto loans to become the second biggest source of personal debt in the U.S., trailing only mortgages. Aware of growing public concern over the issue, Senate Democrats are making student loans one of their top election year planks.
They plan a vote next month on legislation offered by Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren that would allow holders of public and private student loans to refinance at lower rates, just as people can refinance home mortgages or car loans.
Brown, who pays an interest rate of 6.8%, could benefit if the bill became law by cutting her interest in half.
'This high amount of student debt is dragging down our economy,' said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who sponsored a provision in the loan legislation.
Republicans are sure to balk at a provision in the bill that pays for the lost federal revenue from government loans by raising income taxes on those who earn more than a million a year.
But Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Republicans will face stiff political pressure to compromise.
'This issue has amazing resonance,' Schumer said.
He said President Obama will address the staggering loan debt in coming weeks and predicted growing national attention will force GOP leaders to 'come to us for some kind of help.'
If Republicans block action on issues like the minimum wage and student debt 'their numbers are gonna sink,' Schumer said.
'They are really gonna get hurt.'
dfriedman@nydailynews.com
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