New study: Millennials claim student loan debt, global warming worse than North Korea
America’s millennials, the largest living generation in the world, appear to be really stressed out about their student loan debt, so much so that they think it’s about as bad as their greatest fear — global warming. Even more shocking is that these are greater concerns than the murderous and oppressive North Korean regime.
In a new survey released by LendEDU, which charts the impacts of loans and student financial aid, partnered with online polling company Whatsgoodly to ask two questions.
Some 515 millennials were asked “What is a bigger problem facing the United States, global warming or the $1.4 trillion student loan crisis.”
The results: “250 millennials, or 48.5 percent, think the $1.41 trillion student loan crisis is a more serious issue for the U.S. than global warming is. The remaining 265 respondents, or 51.5 percent, believe global warming is a bigger threat facing this country.
Some 544 were asked if their loans or North Korea is worse. Those results:
“379 participants, or 69.7 percent, think the $1.41 trillion student loan debt situation is a bigger threat than North Korea. On the other side, 165 millennials, or 30.3 percent, believe North Korea poses more of a threat than does the student loan crisis.”
Yes, that’s correct: 70% of these students feel student loan is a bigger threat the communist murders. North Korea has repeatedly been the world’s biggest persecutor of Christians.
The survey notes: “60 percent of Americans graduate college with student debt, and on average, each borrower owes $28,400. The average default rate on federal student loans sits at 11.8 percent.”
photo/ Darwin Laganzon
Methodology
The poll was commissioned by LendEDU and conducted by online polling company, Whatsgoodly. In total, 515 current college students were polled from June 2, 2017 to June 14, 2017 for the first question. For the second question, 544 current college students were polled from June 2, 2017 to June 14, 2017. Respondents were allowed to participate in the poll if they currently were holding student debt. The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that there are 20.5 million current college students in the United States. We estimate that our sample is representative of that population within a margin of error of +-4.30%, and +-4.20%, respectively. Respondents were asked to answer each of the following questions truthfully: “What is the bigger problem facing the United States?” (global warming or $1.4 trillion student loan crisis) and “What is the bigger problem facing the United States?” (North Korea or $1.4 trillion student loan crisis)
