The average student loan debt in the United States is $25,000. This is a large burden to bear even for those who are able to obtain a well-paying job when they enter the workforce after graduation. The financial burden is even more devastating for those who are unable to obtain a decent-paying job or even a job. For those who graduate, the financial burden of student loan debt comes with at least a degree that will help them find a decent job, but for 41% of students who drop out of college, it's a huge financial burden without no positive side. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay With the standard 6.8% rate on Stafford loans, a person with $25,000 in student loan debt will expect to pay $280 per month for 10 years. For a person who is able to get a job with a base salary of around $50,000, student loan payments will only be around 6% of their salary each month before taxes. For those who could only get a minimum wage job, it was said that nearly a quarter of their salary each month would go to paying off their student loans. Even with programs that allow borrowers to pay what they can based on their income, interest continues to accumulate, creating more and more debt that becomes increasingly difficult to repay with no guarantee that you will get a good-paying job in the future. When it comes to student debt, disadvantaged students who are most in need of financial aid are more likely to drop out due to accumulating student debt. A report from Demos found that low-income Black and Latino students were more likely to drop out of college due to debt. Compared to only half of white students who cite debt as a reason for dropping out, 70 percent of black students drop out because of debt. Many of these students don't have the money to stay in school or can't focus on both school and the jobs they needed to pay for school. Among students who enroll part-time, who will likely be able to work part-time to help pay for school, only 43.2 percent end up graduating within six years. This only creates a vicious cycle where those who are disadvantaged don't have the wealth to focus solely on school, making them less likely to graduate with a degree that will help them improve their situation. The easiest way to remedy this problem is to offer more generous financial aid packages that limit the amount of loans that take up much of the financial aid package. Often, students see that their financial aid packages cover all of their needs, but they don't realize that a large percentage of financial aid comes in the form of loans that they will have to repay. One positive is that loans like the Stafford Loan are subsidized and have relatively low rates, but that doesn't take away from the fact that students will owe tens of thousands of dollars in loans if and when they graduate. According to Demos, higher costs of college and, as a result, higher student debt are the result of states continuing to reduce spending on higher education. In the decades before 2012, state higher education spending per student declined by 22%. That means less money for scholarships and more money students owe.