What a great idea – make money available for more young people to attend college, earn their degree, enter the work force, earn a living and begin making their mark in the business community and the entire American society. Today that great idea is also becoming an albatross around the necks of young people and their families that it was designed to help succeed. How many people are leaving school with a student loan debt greater than a mortgage and paying interest on those loans twice the current mortgage rate?

And the current student loan situation goes far beyond the students themselves. It is affecting the finances of their parents, who need to add their assistance with loan payments. It is affecting the make-up of the culture with more “graduates” unable to afford their own housing. A significant number continue to live at home for an indefinite period of time. It is affecting the buying power of so many people. Too many college graduates are under-employed yet need to keep paying down those student loans. If a person defaults on a student loan, it will affect their employment opportunities in the future.

Perhaps this situation is best summed up in a now famous sentence: “Houston, we have a problem.”

Mr. David Anderson will address the “student loan problem” on Friday, January 8, 2016. Mr. Anderson is a graduate with honors of Chicago State University in the field of Finance and Economics. In 2009 he wasa part of the Diversity and Explorations Program at Harvard University. He worked as an Analyst for both J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Goldman Sachs. During 2011 Mr. Anderson worked in the Executive Office of the President in the White House.

Student Loan 411, the organization which he co-founded, offers student loan consultative and advisory services to individuals and institutions in the following areas: medical student loans, student loans forgiveness, repayment options, loan consolidation, and parent plus loans.