Pop quiz: Which generation—Baby Boomers, Gen Xers or Millennials—is struggling to save for retirement (no) thanks to student loan debt?
The correct answer is all three. (Wait, what?)
Yes, even the generation closest to retirement has yet to get out from under student loans.
Recent research from the Association of Young Americans (AYA) and AARP found 12 percent of Baby Boomers are still paying those suckers off. It’s a burden shared by 34 percent of Generation X and 48 percent of Millennials, too.
Across all three generations, data show half of those with student loan debt owe $30,000 or more. And like a cloud hovering over their financial freedom, it’s interrupted their ability to save for retirement, purchase a car, buy property and move into a new place.
“The trillion-dollar student loan crisis is clearly having a tangible impact on all Americans across all generations,” Ben Brown, AYA founder, said in a statement. “The impacts of this crisis have deep consequences on our economy as a whole, with the majority of Americans noting that student loan debt has been a barrier in making key life decisions and planning for the future.”
According to the study, student loan debt has prevented or delayed:
- Four in 10 respondents from saving in a 401k or similar retirement account
- 31 percent of Boomers, 38 percent of Gen Xers and 41 percent of Millennials agree
- A third of respondents from buying a home
- 32 percent of Boomers, 26 percent of Gen Xers and 36 percent of Millennials agree
- A quarter of respondents from helping a family member with money issues
- 26 percent of Boomers, 29 percent of Gen Xers and 23 percent of Millennials agree
- 16 percent of respondents from seeking medical care
- 9 percent of Boomers, 16 percent of Gen Xers and 17 percent of Millennials agree
The burden has become so disruptive that the majority of Americans (60 percent) no longer feel college is worth the cost. Around the same number strongly or somewhat agree that the federal government should step in at this point and forgive some of the debt, help people repay a portion of it and/or tax stock market transactions to subsidize tuitions.
Jessa Claeys is a writer, editor and graphic designer.
