Student loan debt exceeds credit card debt in USA

Sad but true, but whether some people know it or know student loan debt has now exceeded credit card debt at a rate if $850 billion withstanding. So just to give you an idea of the magnitude, credit card debt is designed to be paid off within a couple of yrs if minimal payments are made whereas student loan payments are engineered for a 10yr payoff...so do the math considering that now we owe more money in student loans....meaning the longer the payoff period the more interest being accumulated! My theory: because of all these goofball for-profit schools like the University of Phoenix that have predatory marketing techniques that target lower income students or minorities to receive millions of dollars a yr in Pell Grant funding, have high degree costs, yet produce graduation rates of less than 9% for 1st time bachelors degree students or quite simply a lot of people who are trying to counteract the financial stress of the recession by either staying in school longer or attempting to go back to school to use student loan returns as supplemental income to handle their basic costs of living.

Excerts from USAToday:

Total student loan debt exceeds total credit card debt in this country, with $850 billion outstanding, according to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com, websites that provide information about student aid and scholarships.

With tuition far outpacing inflation for the past 20 years, student borrowing has continued to grow — a whopping 25% last year. Some students who are borrowing never expected to, but their parents have lost jobs or suffered other financial setbacks in the recession

So here are some tips/important questions to ask to get your head stuck out of the sand....

• What are the graduation rates?
• Find out the median debt-level ratios for your degree field to set realistic expectations for yourself
• Request a listing from the school of the occupations associated w/ each program
• Shop around for the best tuition programs
• Job placements rates?
• Default rates of all students? 
• Expected amount of debt?