Rich Kids Twice as Likely to Have College Debt Now Than in 1992

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skynesher More than two out of three college graduates now leave school with student loan debt. And the debt they carry out of school these days -- a median of nearly $27,000 as of 2011 -- is "more than twice that of college graduates 20 years ago." These are two conclusions cited in a recent Pew Research Center analysis of government data on student loan debt. But they're not the most startling conclusions. According to Pew, the biggest increase in student borrowing over the last 20 years has been among the wealthy. Pity the Poor Kids As you'd expect, Pew data shows that student loan debt in America is most often concentrated among students of limited financial means. According to Pew, the majority -- 56 percent -- of student loan debt today is borne by students from the lower and lower-middle income classes. Indeed, 77 percent of low-income students, hailing from families making less than $44,432 per year, now leave college with at least some student loan debt. Seventy percent of lower-middle-class students (from families earning $44,432 to $83,406) are in similar straits. And even among upper-middle-class students (from families earning $83,407 to $125,772), 62 percent come out of college burdened by debt. Pity the Rich Kids, Too As for students from what Pew terms the high-income stratum -- families earning $125,773 and up -- 50 percent of such "rich kids" now carry student loan debt into their post-baccalaureate lives. That's a much smaller proportion of kids carrying debt than is found among students less-well-off. But it's still twice the percentage of such kids carrying student loans as we saw back in 1992. That's the biggest jump in the proportion of students carrying loan debt found among any of the four income strata surveyed by Pew. Indeed, the prevalence of student loan debt among high-income students has grown more than twice as fast as such loans have grown among low-income students. And student loan debt among upper-middle-class students is growing nearly as fast as among the rich. But why? The rising cost of college (and even of college textbooks!) surely explains part of the problem. Tuition costs have nearly sextupled over the past three decades. Textbook prices are up even more -- an astounding 812 percent increase in 30 years. And with the majority of parents leaving it to their kids to buy their own textbooks -- which can cost as much as $1,200 a year for a full course load -- this alone could push some kids to take on some debt.