So, THE Iowa State University releases a report putting some numbers to the crush of student debt. So can see the deets here.  My guess it it will scare the poo right out of you like it did me.

78 percent of ISU students will graduate college with some amount of student load debt.  78 percent!  Hope these kids have made the most of their education so they can get a good job.  You know, to repay those loans.

13 percent of students reported that they did not owe any money, when in fact they did have student loan debt. Nearly two-fifths underestimated the amount they owed. One in 10 underestimated their debt by more than $10,000. One in eight don't even know they have debt. 

Where, in the name of all that holy, have we failed out kids so completely when it comes to money that they have no grasp on how in the hole they'll be when they graduate from school?  This blows my mind.  Good on ISU for offering classes on financial management, and doubly good on them for offering a financial counseling clinic.  My take--that stuff ought not to be elective.  It should be a prerequisite for graduation, and their parents should be made to avail themselves of it as well.