We’ve spent a lot of time researching and sharing ways for you to get out of student loan debt or avoid student loans altogether. And the findings of a recent millennials study by Student Loan Hero show why we are so passionate about this. In short, they found that rising student loan debt is killing the marriages of our younger generation. Below, are some of the results of their study.
- The average outstanding balance for student loan borrowers is $34,144. The average student loan debt for the class that graduated from college in 2017 was about $39,400.
- 13% of divorcees blamed student loans, specifically, for ending their relationship.
- A previous study found that 1,000 borrowers found that 43 percent of respondents said they fight about money “somewhat often” with their partner.
- 24 percent of those surveyed said they’ve kept their student loans a secret from their partner, and 18 percent said it’s okay to lie to a partner about money.
- 41 percent of millennials would buy a home if not for their debt.
- 39 percent of millennials recently surveyed said too much debt is their No. 1 source of stress.
These numbers should be shocking, but in a way, they’re not. Why? Because we’ve known for a while now that money problems are the #2 cause of divorce (behind only infidelity) in America for any age demographic. So it would be expected that if millennials are facing historic levels of student loan debt, that it would naturally have a devastating effect on their marriages.
This is why we do what we do here. We don’t want you to be one of these numbers. We want you to win at money because we know that it will help you to win in your marriages as well.
So what can you do to avoid becoming part of this statistic?
- Have open and honest communication about money with your spouse.
- Work together to put create a plan to get out of student loan debt and all other debt as soon as possible.
I’m not going to say that it’s easy, but it really is that simple.
