This year the price of college reached a record high. According to figures from an annual College Board report, the average cost of per year of tuition is up more 8.3 percent for public 4 year colleges and up 4.5 percent for private schools. The average college student now finishes school with between $22,000 and $28,000 of debt. In total, Americans currently owe nearly a trillion dollars in student loans – that’s more than they owe on credit cards. President Obama addressed the issue of student debt in a speech in Denver on Wednesday, announcing a new program to lower monthly student loan payments. One student saddled with debt is Chris Galloway. He graduated in Stony Brook University in 2008 with $14,000 in loans and he can’t afford to pay them. He asks Ron Lieber, personal finance reporter for The New York Times, for some advice.
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