Student Loan Debt Hurting Millennials' American Dreams

BOSTON (CBS) -- Many presidential candidates have talked about ways to make college more affordable. WBZ's business reporter Jeff Brown says that for many, paying off debt is taking a big bite out of life itself.

It's not a pretty picture.

The average student debt for graduates this year tops $35,000.

Millennials are having a tough time paying off the student loans, and for 56 percent of them it's beginning to affect other parts of the American dream.

"Buying a car, buying a home, having children, getting married and saving for retirement," Bankrate.com's Steve Pounds says. "And out of those five, four of them were led by millennials.

Forty-six percent of Generation X-ers still paying off student loans are the ones who are looking at delaying retirement savings.

But for kids picking up a bachelor's degree or better, it's not getting any easier at work.

"Salaries out of college have remained flat, even though the average student loan average has doubled since the mid-90s," Pounds said.

And there's a problem catching up.

"And there was a Georgetown study that showed millennials won't earn a median wage until they're 30 years old," Pounds said.

So what's a millennial to do?

"Moving back home and staying home," Pounds said.

Not that!

But this is serious stuff, problems getting an income date back years.

"Many of the millennials have been, you know, been graduated since 2007 when the recession took place and we'll still seeing the effects of the recession on jobs," Pounds said. "And they are the group that is suffering the most."

Nearly two-thirds of millennials say they didn't get good advice on student loans, but at least they can pass down a word to the wise to college freshman.