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For many college students November will begin with a dread, as the grace period for student loans ends, now the horror begins as payments have to be made.

Most federal student loans have a six month grace period before payments begin; well this ends next month.  Now many students will be able to make their loan payments, but how many will not! How does this affect those who cannot make those payments? How does this affect the U.S. Economy, if students cannot make their payments?

Right now the U.S. is sitting on $1.2 trillion in student loan debt, with $1 trillion in federal student loan debt.  What happens if a portion of this debt cannot be repaid, then what?  What policies are in place and what are the candidates from both sides doing about this impending crisis?  Little has been discussed on the campaign trail, why aren’t we asking them their solution to this crisis?

Too often the debate centers around the student loans themselves and the interest rates associated with them, the unfortunate aspect, little attention has been paid to the cost of a college education.

Why does college cost so much? I have spoken to many college students and many are worried about their ability to make these payments, especially with the dire nature of the U.S. economy.

The topic of student loan debt should have made headlines this month especially after likely Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton received $225,000 for a 90 minute speech she gave at UNLV.

During her speech Clinton made references to the fact “Higher education shouldn’t be a privilege for those able to afford it,” and “It should be an opportunity widely available for anybody with the talent, determination and ambition.”

Many protested her receiving this amount of money as many mentioned UNLV will increase tuition by over 17% over the next four years.

Political leaders make these grandiose speeches about wanting to help the middle class, but they talk about why administrators make these outlandish salaries.  I know this is only one aspect, but has anyone asked why tuition costs have skyrocketed the past few years?

In June, President Obama gave the commencement address at UC Irvine in California and in attendance where many of the Regents of the University of California system, who have astronomical compensation packages all the while stating we need to hire the best and the brightest, but tuition continues to rise each year.

Also in attendance was former U.S. Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano now the 20th president of the University of California educational system.

As president of the UC system she receives a base salary of $570,000, an auto allowance of $8,916, and received a one-time relocation fee of $142,000 to move to California from Washington D.C.

Many students are graduating with an average student loan debt of $30,000 and are entering the economy with minimal job prospects, and this burdensome debt will only hammer their economic growth and that of the country.

Too often we listen to the speeches by both Republicans and Democrats and still nothing gets done.  If the future of this country rest with the millennial generation then we are witnessing for the first time in recent memory, where the future for the next generation will be worse than the current generation of Americans.

We should challenge our elected officials, but unfortunately the speaking fee Clinton made barely made a blip in the news cycle; how sad.