This has caused a lot of students to go into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Likewise, these fields require graduate school to move up the job hierarchy. With so much education, new people in the work force are left with so much debt that they have a hard time paying off. This leads to increasing amounts of debt because of the interest rates. The middle class is notorious for having student debt because of the lack of scholarships and income. They aren't either poor enough for financial aid or rich enough to pay to go the university without being affected financially. According to TIME, student debt is increasing at a fast rate; in the past decade, America's overall student debt has increased from $253 billion to $1.08 trillion. This is because universities across the nation have been increasing their tuitions. A perfect example is the University of California, Berkeley, which has just approved tuition increases by 5% each year. The tuition hikes do not affect the poor, who have an annual family income below $150,000, and they do not affect the upper class, to who has 5% increases are minor. The middle class is at a disadvantage because of economic security once they go into the work force. For those that come from wealthy families, parents tend to pay their child's tuition completely from their own annual salaries or, if they have a "big money" family, from saved up money of their own. Also, more than 50% of newly graduated people that have a costly university degree are currently unemployed or in a job that does not require their expensive education. The New York Times stated that even baby boomers are unsuccessfully trying to reduce their student loans. This trend of unreliable job security even with a good college degree is causing worry for all except the wealthy. For the rich, any job is decent because there is always sufficient money to fall back on.
