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Graduation season is here and our college and high school grads are yet again facing the gloomy prospect of having to pay off crushing student loan debt.

Student loan debt in our country has just touched a whopping $1 trillion. This is much more than any other consumer debt including credit card. New York Times says that the percentage of students borrowing to pay for higher education has risen to almost double since 1993.

Ask any average student who comes out of college and they will tell you how they have to struggle to pay $20,000 in debt. For the young graduates, especially with a miserable job situation, this is a tremendous burden. Most youngsters shy away from going to graduate school being faced with the prospect of further debt. Many are forced to move back with their parents or work two jobs in order to pay off their high student loan bills very month.

Too many of our graduates are left in the lurch due to the loan debt though there is uniform consensus that the pathway to success for our country is college education.

One of our President’s top priorities is to enhance our severely lagging graduation rates. He clearly recognizes the importance of higher education for our economic growth. According to him, every family must be able to afford education which is now an economic imperative, not a luxury.
One of the major causes of rising tuition costs is declining or stagnant graduation rates.

There is an effort by President Obama to reduce rate of interest for federal student loan from 6.8 to 3.4 per cent. If his efforts do not bear fruit, July 1st will see this rate doubling and this will further burden students as they have to pay at least $1000 more through the life of the loan.

Extension of 3.4 per cent interest rate is supported by both sides in Congress. There is an argument going on as to how to pay for it just like the earlier fights over payroll tax cut extension and debt ceiling increase. The cost of the bill is $6 billion and this amount will be balanced by the Senate through closure of high earners tax loopholes.

Any tax hikes for the rich that are preconceived are not accepted by the Republicans. Their counter proposal targets the 2010 Health Care plan of our President.

Under a similar situation last year when the student loan debt reached the one trillion dollar mark, the interest rate extension on student loan was blocked for one more year. Congress is witnessing an ideological warfare that is only leading to suffering for low income families and students.

The importance of college graduation cannot be under estimated. It is as important as our national security and military. When it however comes to funding, education always comes second to war. If only the Hispanics and African Americans did not have to carry the huge student loan debt burden, imagine how much our graduation rates would increase.