Borrowing money to get life started hard for grads with debt

For many freshly minted college graduates, borrowing money can be a challenge right out of the gate.

The years after graduation are usually a time to pile on debt, whether for that new car, the mortgage for a first home, credit card purchases or any of the other accoutrements that come with starting out in life.

But a significant number of those getting out of college have a high level of student loan indebtedness that could negatively impact their chances of borrowing their way to owning life’s finer things.

A recent LendEDU survey of 10,000 student loan applicants across 300 college majors found that nearly 16% are projected to have a debt-to-income ratio of over 20% when they graduate in four years.

Having to pay more than 20 cents on each dollar earned is bad enough — especially when you consider the low salaries many recent graduates make — but adding debt for automobiles, shelter and credit cards, which will drastically increase the debt-to-income ratio, can make for an impossible situation.

The average student who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2018 wound up owing $28,565, according to LendEDU.

“If you’re making only $30,700 you really can’t make payments toward your student loan debt,” said LendEDU research analyst Mike Brown. “Lenders look at debt-to-income ratios and are probably not going to lend to you, or will do so at a higher interest rate,” he added.

“Younger Americans are not buying houses and not starting new families as a result of this,” he added.