There’s a great pressure for young adults to attend college and pursue a bachelor’s degree or higher. Oftentimes, one may be looked down upon for not working toward a degree and stereotyped as not doing anything with your life because of not going to school.

However, attending college often means signing up for student loans that pay for tuition and other expenses while in school. There’s a hefty price to be paid for those loans and they can increase incredibly with interest rates over time.

It’s no secret that attending a higher learning institution comes with a high price. Whether it’s a university, private school or trade school, student debt is so common. And receiving some support from financial aid or scholarships may not be enough for some students who worry about making payments after receiving a degree.

Having to pay to for student debt loans and receive calls from debt collectors can be stressful, and sometimes avoiding those calls from debt collectors isn’t going to solve anything because at the end of the day, the debt will still be there and needs to be paid off. But how long will it take to pay them all off?

On average, a student is indebted with $30,000 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree, according to a statistic by the Institute for College Access and Success. That number has skyrocketed incredibly compared to the debt in 1993, when students averaged less than $10,000.

An article titled “Congratulations, to Class of 2014, Most Indebted Ever,” was published in The Wall Street Journal, and shows multiple graphs of student debt and the ratio between how much debt they carry and salary made from the last 20 years.

The number of students struggling with paying debt and working a job that doesn’t suffice paying bills is staggering. One graph illustrates the distinct difference between what young people make and what they owe. What former students owe peaks at 35 percent and earnings is negative five percent.

Carrying the debt affects dreams students have after graduation such as buying homes, a new car, getting married and many others.

Who is to blame for increasing tuitions, no guarantees for careers and increasing student debt loans that aren’t easy to pay?

Even with President Barack Obama’s proposal for free community college for students who create a plan to advance to a four-year university, it isn’t enough. There needs to be a decrease in tuition and students need to be educated about their debt.