http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloandebtclock.phtml
...$850 billion in mostly non-dischargeable loans, up from around $200 billion in 2000. Here's the added debt, in absolute figures per year:
2001 $29 billion 2002 $33 billion 2003 $38 billion 2004 $44 billion 2005 $58 billion 2006 $66 billion 2007 $76 billion 2008 $87 billion 2009 $99 billion
And the growth curve is exponential. If this keeps up, total student loans will crash through the $1 trillion mark by the end of 2011 (a little over a year from now), and $1.7 trillion by the not-so-distant mark of 2015.
-- DRR
^^^^^^^
CB: Hey maybe they could be bundled up as credit default swaps.