For most people, taking on debt to pay for college or graduate school is a good long-term investment. College graduates on average earn 61% more than those with just a high school diploma over the course of a 40-year career, according to a 2007 analysis of census data by the College Board. In 2007 the average annual salary for a worker with a bachelor’s degree was $57,000, compared to $31,000 for a high school grad.

But in the short term, it’s hard for many younger workers to see the payoff as they struggle to make loan payments and gain a foothold in a difficult job market. Consider this: The average college graduate who borrows the full cost of tuition and fees at a public university will be 33 before accumulated net earnings catch up to counterparts who enter the workforce directly from high school—after factoring in tuition costs, interest, and earnings foregone during the years in school—according to the College Board study. Those who borrow more to attend a private college or graduate school take even longer to match high school grads in net earnings.

As tuition rises faster than inflation and wages, some suggest that the U.S. needs to rethink the way people pay for higher education. “Young people are entering adulthood, entering the workforce, with this huge burden on their shoulders, and as a society we need to ask, ‘Is this really how we should be educating people?’” says Edie Irons, a spokeswoman for the Project on Student Debt. “When young people are starting out in the hole, how are they going to afford to buy a house or go to grad school or start a business or start a family?”

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{Photography by B Rosen}