Two Year Degrees Connected to Bankruptcy

In the recent publication, “Broke: How Debt Bankrupts the Middle Class” by Kathrine Porter, Miss Porter explains that while most Americans are pushed to attend college as though it were the only path to success, anything less than a four year degree will increase your probability of filing for bankruptcy. She goes on to state that the cause of bankruptcy for these individuals does not appear to be student loan obligations, but she offers no concrete alternative explanation.
A study by The Institute for Financial Literacy reiterates Porter’s surprise at the growing number of educated bankrupt, but still shows that the majority of bankruptcy filers are those who have only high school education or went to college but never finished.
Gant Daily came to similar findings but only showed a little more than 2% growth in higher education filings over the last few years.
The long story short is that the largest groups filing bankruptcy are still those with only high school or some college education. It has been this way for some time. It is my belief that the new trend of increasing bankrupt being from the upper middle class is just that, a trend. When economic recovery gives a more certainty and consistency back to the markets, I anticipate that the increased number of college graduates filing will return to the norm. Still, these studies are interesting and relay an important message: No matter what educational demographic you come from, you are not alone.