At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, “[more] than 50 percent of students…take out student loans to pay for school”.

This, coupled with the fact that more than 60% of graduates don’t have a full-time job, and you have a recipe for economic disaster.

As a result of no jobs and high debt, students are unable to make many of the purchases that “grown-ups” can, like cars and houses.

This, in turn, depresses those sectors of the economy, which rely on a yearly crop of eager graduates and newbies to the job market who are ready to invest in their future.

In the 1950s, “starter homes” were a hallmark purchase for young couples and graduates.

Now, it may be a decade before many graduates will be able to graduate from apartments to homes.