Looming student loan payments are Payal Ravani's ticking crocodile.
The 24-year-old Lansing resident graduated from Michigan State University in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in political theory and about $80,000 in federal and private student loan debt. She has to start making payments in the spring.
"At least 50 percent of the time when I would go in to talk to someone (in the financial aid office), I would come out crying," Ravani said. "I think people don't understand how emotional and sensitive people are about it."
A painful reality faces an increasing number of students and families: tuition costs rise even when the economy lags.
The consequence is many students leave college with more debt and less ability to repay it.
Student loans are now the largest source of debt for Americans, outweighing credit card debt by more than $90 billion.
According to the Federal Reserve, Americans owed just over $800 billion in revolving credit (which includes credit card debt) as of December 2010.
Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of financial aid assistance sites FinAid.org and FastWeb.com, estimates Americans now owe a total of more than $890 billion in student loan debt.
About 60 percent of students at Michigan colleges graduated with student loan debt in 2009. The average total debt per student was $25,458.
