Student loans: Even military worries about rising debt

Student loans come with protections for US troops, but loan companies seem to be misleading them, a new Pentagon report says. Student loans, held by 41 percent of troops, are among their top concerns -- sometimes even topping war itself. 

In this October file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks at NATO
 headquarters in Brussels. Financial troubles – including big student loans
 – are the No. 1 reason US troops lose their security clearance, he says. (AP)

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters that the No. 1 reason troops lose security clearances was financial troubles, which include things like overwhelming debt for mortgages, credit cards and student loans.

"And that's something that we absolutely now have to address," Panetta said at a Pentagon press conference detailing a new report on student loan debt.

"Because of their sacrifice, it should be easier, not tougher for service members to be able to pay off their college debt," he said.

The growing student loan burden in the military appears to partly reflect a trend in America generally. Two-thirds of U.S. college seniors who graduated in 2011 had student loan debt, with an average of $26,600 per borrower, according to a study released on Thursday by the California-based Institute for College Access and Success.

The Pentagon report cited a figure from 2008 showing that the amount of student debt for active-duty service members graduating from college in 2008 was $25,566.