Study links student loans with lower net worth in professional life

US: Students who leave college with debt are found to be having lower net worth at the age of 30, according to a research published in Children and Youth Services Review.

The average net worth of people who had student loan debt after graduating or dropping out of college was $13,680 lower than that of their counterparts.

"After controlling for various student characteristics and parental income, we found that having student loan debt when people graduated or dropped out of college compromised their ability to accumulate wealth afterward," said principal investigator Min Zhan, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois.

Furthermore, having education loans also has an additional negative link to the value of net worth among Black young adults, 40 percent less compared with white students.