Student loans put the kibosh on kids
With the increasing realization of the effects of student loan debt on Americans, is it any wonder employers are becoming interested in seeing how their benefits can help?
There are plenty of life plans that fall by the wayside for people carrying a big load of student loan debt, and having children is just one of them.
So says a survey from Student Loan Planner, which found that not only did 51 percent of student loan borrowers say those loans have affected their plans for having kids, a third of those with high balances say they put such plans on hold because of student loan debt.
But that’s not the only negative effect that student loans are having on borrowers.
A quarter say they’ve delayed getting married because of them, 57 percent say those loans are a major stress factor in their relationship with their significant other and 20 percent say they’d consider a strategic divorce if they thought it would lower their student loan payments.
One respondent said she actually did get a strategic divorce because marriage “drastically increased my monthly payment (even when filing separately).” The couple is still together, she added, and plans to remarry should her debt be forgiven.
One in eight believes that their student loan balances kept someone from dating them, which probably isn’t far from the truth—since one out of 12 respondents said they’d decided not to date someone because of their student loan debt.
And perhaps saddest of all is one respondent who believes her $60,000 in student loan debt caused her fiancé not just to call off the wedding but also to break up with her altogether—because he was afraid she was just after him for his house and his money.
It’s pretty obvious that people are aware of the negative potential of a significant other learning about their student loan debt, since nearly 10 percent of respondents said yes when asked whether they had ever lied to a partner about their student loan debt.
Some respondents, however, said being open about the amount of debt and payoff prospects has actually brought them closer together with their significant other, especially when both have loans and they decide to pool their resources to tackle the problem as a team.
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