Abstract
Excerpt: To effectively address the student debt crisis, each citizen should consider the complexity of the problem and to not simply "blame the victim" which is the student loan borrower. In the last fifty years policy makers have created a federal funding scheme that has rewarded state governments for decreasing their funding support, encouraged tuition-based funding policies at most colleges and universities, and allowed an American aging population to avoid their financial responsibility to the next generation of students. The economic consequences of this complicated issue are already beginning to be felt in the small business, housing, automobile, and most consumer spending markets.