Another Drain on Retirement Income: Student Debt

明亮的高中毕业生陷入债务的叙述只是失业和违约已经变得太熟悉。但另一个人口正在努力与学生债务的重量斗争，对他们的后果可能会更加困难。虽然许多人越来越关注他们的孩子的财务期货，但他们可能忽略了同样的债务如何影响父母。

由于债务数量在美国，美国学生的平均膨胀程度高达30,000美元 - 包括第一次刚刚赢得办公室或在上周选举中赢得办公室的一些人 - 已将问题带到了前面。马萨诸塞州的民主党参议员伊丽莎白沃伦已经努力通过学生贷款再融资法案，而田纳西州的共和党参议员拉马尔·亚历山大（田纳西州）最受欢迎的是健康教育劳工和养老金委员会主持人，并试图攻击该问题通过减少首先可用的联邦贷款金额。

But the rhetoric has largely focused on affordability of college for the so-called traditional student — a recent high school graduate with high ambitions — and the financial impact of carrying loans that can’t be forgiven through bankruptcy throughout adult life. The truth, however, is much more complicated, as both lawmakers and many retiring seniors will soon discover.

“There is no statute of limitations,” says Heather Jarvis, a lawyer and student loan expert based in Wilmington, North Carolina. “The government pursues borrowers to the grave.”

People over 65 have increasingly suffered financial hardship thanks to debt, though it typically comes in the form of mortgages or high credit card balances. Although the percentage of debt following retirees into their golden years that comes from student loans is still relatively small — about 3 percent for households headed by someone over 65 — the numbers have been growing at an alarming pace.

根据A的情况，退休年龄人民持有的学生债务债务额从2005年的280亿美元增加到182亿美元。recent studyconducted by the Government Accountability Office. But what are people who should be preparing to enjoy retirement doing with an estimated median student debt load of $12,000?

答案很复杂。一些观察者指出所谓的父母加直接联邦贷款，人们有时代表他们的孩子拿出来，但高报告表明退休人员持有的大多数学生债务是他们自己的 - 无论是从大学经历早些时候或发生的数十年最近被人们回到学校。（后者部分地归功于巨大的经济衰退和随后的缓慢增长经济，这将许多老年人送回学校以期待需要第二次职业生涯。）因为学生贷款的销售和呈现 - 私人贷款lenders and by the government — experts don’t think many borrowers really know what they’re getting themselves into.

“A lot of people sought out education or reeducation as a way of rebuilding their skill set, and may not have been fully aware of the cost of the debt and how it would impact them going forward,” says Richard Gotterer, a senior financial adviser at Wescott Financial Advisory Group in Miami.

Student loan payments can be tough for graduates to make, especially if they don’t find gainful employment right away. But for a retiree who has little to no income and may be getting by solely on a pension or Social Security benefits, student debt can mean living below the poverty line.

“The trend of retirees holding college debt could be incredibly impactful to a generation that is already significantly underfunded for retirement,” says Brian Menickella, a managing partner of Beacon Group of Companies, a King of Prussia, Pennsylvania–based insurance and investing advisory firm.

这一群体的最大担忧是，如果他们没有任何贷款支付，他们所做的收入可以在一年多。去年，65岁及74岁之间的借款人涉及违约学生贷款;根据GAO，数量超过75人的人数上升至50％。这与违约者相比，只有12％的借款人在25％和49岁之间。当后一组可能有麻烦buying a home或者通过违约进行汽车付款，前者正在具有其社会保障检查的转移。在过去的十年中，退休人员的支票被支付以支付贷款的退休人员飙升，从2002年的31,000升至2013年的155,000人。

It doesn’t have to be this way, says Jarvis. The truth that is often buried is that federal loans borrowed for one’s own education are often eligible for income-based repayment plans, and many are also qualified for forgiveness programs if the borrower spent a certain amount of time in a public service career. A more recent program also allows borrowers to pay as they earn, capping repayment at 20 years.

Part of the problem, according to Jarvis, is that most borrowers aren’t aware of these opportunities. “My whole business is keeping up with the crazy, convoluted rules,” she says. “It’s very difficult for even sophisticated, intelligent people to navigate, and the rules change quite often.”

The amount of new student debt being taken out by people of all ages continues to grow. Experts like Jarvis and Gotterer, however, are optimistic that the increased focus by lawmakers and advocacy groups on making the system more transparent may save future generations of retirees from a similar fate. “While student debt has exploded in the last decade or so, there’s also a greater emphasis on what student debt is and what it means,” says Gotterer. “There’s more education to students who are taking out loans today and they have more options.”

It’s hard to know whether the current reliance of students on federal aid may lead to a spike in retiree debt numbers down the line. But some experts are concerned that in the meantime, retirees and the financial systems on which they rely可能遇到麻烦. The Beacon Group’s Menickella is worried about a potential “domino effect” on the economy, at least in the near term.

“Many of the baby boomers entering retirement were the earliest adopters of the mentality that everybody should go to college, so we could be looking at a period of ten to 15 years where their defaults and other subsequent issues begin to mount,” he says.

虽然具有学生债务的退休人员的巨大困境在很大程度上未被立法者未审视，但如果这意味着他们意味着他们获得更多的保护，并且更加小心他们如何借阅，那么他们最终可能会为年轻学生的重点结束。