More than half of older millennials with student loans feel they weren’t worth it

A recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of CNBC Make It found that 1,000 U.S. adults aged 33 to 40 had taken out an average of $21,880 in student loans. Only 32% of these individuals have fully repaid their loans, meaning a staggering 68% are still managing student debt even after a decade.

Despite the general belief that college graduates fare better, enjoying job security, higher earnings, and financial stability, more than half (52%) of older millennials with student debt feel that their loans were not worth it.

Erin Becker, 36, owes over $40,000 in federal and private student loans. For her, paying off the debt has been “a constant uphill battle.” She adds, “There is no comfort or security, just an ever-present unease about the future.”

Becker was the first in her family to attend a four-year college, enrolling at SUNY Potsdam in 2003 to study music education. Her parents took out loans for her education.

However, she soon realized that SUNY Potsdam wasn’t the right fit. “It was very isolating, and I didn’t have a lot of friends in the music college itself,” she recalls. After becoming depressed, she decided to return home. “I don’t think I was mature enough to go to college right away. If I were to talk to my 17-year-old self, I would maybe say, ‘Take some time to make sure that this is really what you want.’”

“Debt was never discussed when I was in high school,” says Becker. “It was just like you go to college, that’s what you did.”

After several odd jobs, Becker decided to pursue a two-year veterinary technician degree from Medaille College, a private institution in Buffalo, New York, this time shouldering the financial responsibility. She took out two private loans: $8,835 and $13,600. Upon graduation in 2010, she was left with over $20,000 in student debt and a job paying $12 an hour at a veterinary practice.

“I was always paying the minimum amount due on my loans,” she remembers.

Unable to make much progress on the principal, Becker decided to finish her bachelor’s degree (this time in psychology) at the University of Buffalo. She graduated in 2017, having borrowed an additional $32,000. At that point, her total debt reached $54,000. “In the time that I’ve paid it off, I’ve paid it down to maybe $49,000.”

In October, Becker had her first child and now works part-time as an entry-level client services representative at a veterinary practice, earning $15 per hour. “It’s frustrating and it’s embarrassing, frankly. I feel like I’m smarter and better than where I am right now,” she says. Her husband, a mechanical engineer, earns about $80,000 annually.

“And I struggle with identifying myself outside of my profession,” she says. “I want to do good. I want to make a positive difference in the world, in my community, and I don’t think I’m doing that right now.”

What frustrates Becker the most is that attending college and incurring debt didn’t feel like a real choice.

“Was college worth it? The answer is yes,” she admits. “It’s certainly more valuable to have a degree than not to have a degree. You kind of have to go to college. A college professor once said that the four-year bachelor’s degree is the equivalent of a high school degree now.”

“In our parents’ generation, there were entry-level jobs where you could have a comfortable life with a single income — that doesn’t exist any more.”

Jeffrey Street, 33, graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2009 and recalls how tough the job market was back then. “The job market was so bad,” he says. “I was working for the City of Knoxville Parks and Recreation department during undergrad, and after graduation, I had to keep working for them. I knew I wanted something else.”

Street then went on to law school at the University of Idaho, where he met his future wife, Shannon. Upon graduation in 2012, the couple was saddled with nearly $200,000 in student debt.

Shannon owed $17,125 for her undergraduate degree and $87,058 for her law degree, while Street had no undergraduate loans but owed over $92,000 for law school.

“I remember thinking that if I was very proactive in paying it off right after law school, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad,” he says. “But the average interest rate on our loans was about 6.5%, which meant about $1,000 of interest every week.”

Even after passing the Bar Exam in 2013, the couple still struggled to find work. “I was literally putting in job applications for any job I could find,” he recalls.

Street eventually took a job stocking shelves at Target from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m. so he could network and apply for legal positions during the day. He would change into his suit in a 7-Eleven bathroom before interviews. Shannon worked in the framing department at a local Michael’s.

Eventually, Street secured his first legal job in Grand Junction, Colorado, earning $36,000. The couple moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for better opportunities and began to chip away at their loans.

“Everything we thought about was student loans. It was all-consuming,” he says. “We poured every extra dollar into our student loans. We did not vacation. We did not buy a new car. (In fact, we still have our TV from law school). We took secondhand furniture and clothes when offered. We just saved and saved.”

Street says they put off having children for six years and even skipped friends’ weddings due to their debt.

Today, Street has $27,630 left in student loans, while Shannon owes $6,820. They live in Boise, Idaho, with two young children, and they can finally see the end of their debt. Street has even begun saving in a 529 fund for his children’s education, hoping to spare them from the same burden.

While Street is proud of his progress and believes earning his law degree was necessary for his career, both he and Becker support student debt relief for future generations.

“You can’t accuse me of wanting someone else to take accountability for my student loans. I’ve paid my debts, and I’m going to finish,” he says. “But I went through it, and I can tell you the student debt process was not worth it.”

“I wouldn’t wish the student debt experience on anyone.”

Article was inspired from the CNBC's Middle Aged Millennials