I doubt it'll come as a surprise to anyone under 45, but according to congress.gov, nearly "one in six adult Americans" has federal student loan debt, and the New York Times reports that millennials hold the bulk of that debt.
Back in May, President Trump resumed collections on previously defaulted student loans, which had been paused since 2020. Combined with the government allowing loan servicers to report late payments to credit bureaus again (which had also been on pause), the New York Times said that millions of people have seen their credit scores drop, and "a record number of borrowers are [now] at risk of defaulting by the end of the year."
Student loans have continued to be a point of contention politically as well, with many conservatives arguing against student loan forgiveness, saying it's akin to getting something for free. However, younger people contend that the loans are predatory, unaffordable, and feel impossible to pay off, sometimes even after they've been making regular payments for years.
Zoë Tyler, aka thezolyspirit, recently went viral in a video where she jokingly laid out exactly what the student loan crisis looks like in reality. Zoë started out the video satirically, in a perfect mid-Atlantic accent, with a text overlay that says, "What boomers think the student loan crisis is...": "Oh, yes," she said, "Well, I, I know I said I would pay back those student loans, but I... I've decided I don’t want to," she said with a smile. "I don’t ever want to grow up. I want to stay a child forever."
@thezolyspirit / Via tiktok.com
Then, she switched immediately back to her normal speaking voice with a text overlay that says "What it actually is..." as she began imitating a one-sided phone call. "Hi, yes, um — so, I have my student loan pulled up here — I’ve been making the minimum payment on time for 10 years, and I now owe more than I took out. So I just… I was wondering what’s that about?" she asked.
@thezolyspirit / Via tiktok.com
"The interest accrues faster than you can pay it off? Oh, that’s…that’s neat...how you guys are able to do that."
"What is the interest, by the way? I can’t… It’s 13%? Okay. That makes sense, that…that it would be that."
Then, Zoë begins a new conversation. "Hi! I just graduated, and I noticed that my student loans are way more than I originally took out. It was accruing interest while I was at school? Uh. Hmm. But it says the principle is more than I took [out]..."
@thezolyspirit / Via tiktok.com
"When I graduated, you combined the accruing interest into the principle, so now… I took out $55,000, and it’s saying that it accrued $20,000 while I was at school. So now, instead of taking the 10% interest off of $55,000, you’re taking 10% interest off of $75,000? Wow!"
@thezolyspirit / Via tiktok.com
The video ended with Zoë signing off the call. "All right, well, uh, thank you. What was your name, sir? One more time? Beelzebub? Okay, thank you."
People in the comments were quick to back Zoë up, pointing out that they'd had similar experiences with their own loans. "I borrowed $17k and they want $60k back. They need to be fr lmao," said one person.
"My husband, after paying for 13 years, checked his student loan breakdown. Turns out, of the 350$ a month he has been paying on time for 13+ years, only .16 CENTS a month goes toward the principle balance."
"atp my student loans are an issue between the government and god."
Others pointed out how much costs have changed since the baby boomers were in school. "Tuitions and Fees have gone up 133% since the 80s."
U.S. News & World Report confirms this statistic, with the qualifier that it is in regard to in-state tuition and fees at public national universities, and is not adjusted for inflation.
"My FIL [father-in-law] paid for his college and his living expenses for the entire year by working an entry level construction job in the summer. No way anyone could do that now-a-days. A summer job wouldn't even cover books and fees."
The conversation made its way over to Twitter (X) as well, when the video was shared with the comment, "A TikTok that explains the student-loan crisis better than any politician or journalist can, in 93 seconds."
Quoting a response to the original tweet, they also said, "This is not 'basic finance,' these are exploitative non-negotiable terms which makes this a form of predatory lending."
"If you get a 7-year car loan and make the minimum payment every month, the loan will be paid off in 7 years... It's literally only student loans that are like this."
Unsurprisingly, there were commenters who felt that borrowers were the ones responsible for their debt. "Crying about being responsible for your choices just shows how out of touch that generation is," said one person.
"What this tik tok explains really well is that people didn't learn the right things in college."
"Do not sign contracts...you don't understand. Especially don't do that and then try to make it other people's problem."
But others pushed back, pointing out that people took these loans out when they were still teenagers, usually with a promise that going to college would help them earn more money later. "Worst part is people will see this and say 'well you as a 17/18 y/o should have realized how predatory it was.'"
"Telling 18 year olds that they have to go to college to be successful and not fully explaining to them what loans are like is diabolical."
"a lot of us were just shuffled through a line and told to sign a sheet of paper so we could go to school, all with minimal explanation of any of it."
And finally, this commenter summed it up best: "But make sure you pay them off whilst also buying a house, paying for a wedding, and having children all whilst earning proportionally less than they ever did because wages are stagnant, ok? You can do it if you just cancel your Netflix."
You can see Zoë's full video below:
@thezolyspirit / Via tiktok.com
And now I have to know: What do you think? Are you still paying off student loans? Do you feel they should be forgiven, or at least reduced after a decade of payments? Let us know in the comments. And if you'd like to remain anonymous, you can use the form below.
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