While study after study shows that student debt is increasing, the College Board recently reported that parents of college students are also taking on alarming levels of debt—up to $71,000 in some cases. 

The study, conducted by the College Board, found that when students are taking on high debt, their parents tend to as well.  For students with high debt levels, $30,500 or more, 42 percent of their parents had federal PLUS loans of approximately the same amount.  Parents that earn at least $100,000 per year now have an average loan burden of $41,000. 

The same study found that college costs are also skyrocketing.  The overall cost of college has increased nearly 500 percent since 1980. 

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