For nearly half of all students currently pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), student loan debt is a major concern, the 11th annual Training The Street (TTS) MBA Employment Survey found.
To produce the survey, the website communicated with 522 students via SurveyMonkey, who are currently pursuing an MBA in various business schools.
For 52.6 percent of the surveyed students, student loan debt is often one of the deciding factors in determining the type of job they will accept. Furthermore, 42 percent of those who are starting out with salaries in excess of $125,000 still worry about paying off their loans.
Most of the students, nearly 72 percent, anticipated that they will work in private equity, venture capital, at a hedge fund, or in a corporate or industry position within five years, while only 29 percent of respondents expected to be at a bulge bracket or boutique advisory firms.
“The U.S. economy is strong, unemployment is near an all-time low, and that’s fueling a tremendous sense of optimism among MBAs,” Scott Rostan, founder and CEO of Training The Street, said.
“But MBAs also realize that even with strong salary prospects, student loans can be onerous. Choosing the best career path to help pay those loans off is an important priority,” Rostan added.
On a positive note, the survey found that 72.4 percent of MBA graduates at top business schools are optimistic about employment opportunities in the near future.
In 2018, U.S. student loan debt topped $1.5 trillion, officially surpassing the debt levels of both credit cards and auto loans. It now claims second place for the highest debt category throughout the country, second only to mortgage debt.
According to a recent Quinnipiac University National Poll, 57 percent of voters, both Democrat and Republican, support the idea of forgiving up to $50,000 in student loans for individuals in households earning less than $250,000 a year. Even among the teens who have yet to attend college, the support for forgiving $1.5 trillion debt held by student borrowers is tremendous.
Studies have shown that student debt is not only affecting the financial health of students, but their long-term mental health as well.
A study conducted by the College Debt in America: The Case for Tuition & Loan Repayment Benefits found that seven out of 10 working adults with student debt identify their finances as their major source of stress. Most of them are also pessimistic about making significant progress when it comes to paying off their student loans.
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