Debtors' prison

Student loan debt now outstrips car loan debt and even outstanding U.S. credit card spending. Worse, as college tuition and the cost of borrowing to pay for it have skyrocketed, income levels and employment opportunities have flatlined. It’s perhaps then no surprise that nearly 40 percent of federal student loans are in default—as it becomes a longer and steeper climb for most college graduates to pay off bigger and bigger student loans.

Sources: National Center for Education Statistics; Federal Reserve Bank of New York; United States Census Bureau; National Student Loan Data System; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau