College graduates have too much debt to get married
Oct 7, 2014, 6:18 PM
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College graduates are now delaying marriage because of record amounts of debt. In fact, student loans have hit a record high of $1.2 trillion, according to an NBC News article.
“I now pronounce you in decades of debt,” says NBC News comically but truthfully.
The increase in debt is not only influencing new graduates to not get married right out of school, it’s also stopping young adults from starting a family right away and attempting to own a home.
“People cannot participate in the American dream because of student debt,” said Natalia Abrams, executive director and co-founder of StudentDebtCrisis.org.
The typical American dream usually includes saving for retirement and a new home, but even people with decent-paying jobs are holding off on walking down the aisle. Abrams says it’s simply cost-prohibitive for those that have $100,000 or even $150,000 to pay back in student loans.
Student loan debt isn’t the only reason graduates are holding off on marriage. Women seem to be putting more time into obtaining advanced degrees, and jobs have withered for less-educated Americans.
A recent Pew Research Center study also reveals that there is a record number of both women and men who have never married. The median age for women to first get married nowadays is age 27. In 1960, most women got married around age 20. For men, the median age in 2014 is 29 years old, while in 1960 most men first walked down the aisle at age 23.
