I speak frequently about the ridiculous amount of student loan debt in our country. Not that there aren’t times and situations that they are warranted, but all too often they are a product of irresponsible choices. Irresponsible meaning that students and families do not invest the time and effort into exploring options before they commit to majors and then change their mind. In changing majors, you loose at least one semester, so the graduation target gets pushed back and the monetary investment gets extended. The national average indicates that students will change majors 3-5 times in the course of their four-year degree, but in doing so they end up graduating in six years instead of four.
The newest data shows that loan debt has increased 10% over last year. Here is a very cool interactive map that shows state-by-state the amount of loan debt and % of students with loan debt. http://money.cnn.com/interactive/pf/college/student-debt-map-2012/?iid=EL
Need help exploring your options and developing a plan NOT to be one of the statistics. I am not a financial consultant, but I am a college and career advisement specialist. Contact me.