Loan Education Becomes Prerequisite As Student Debt Balloons

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College loan debt isn't easing up, and students are struggling to navigate a plethora of obligations.

For students now sprinting toward the end of their college days, the finish line may not be much of a relief. More than ever, their gait is slowed by the weight of impending debt.

Thirty-seven million Americans share about $1 trillion in student loans,according to Federal Reserve data. It's the biggest consumer debtbesides mortgages, eclipsing both auto loans and credit cards. And on it grows, an appetite undiminished by the recession.

Learning What To Ask

There are signs that students are catching on to the dangers, however. Dawit Lemma learned his own lessons about loans and is now passing them on to others. He's the associate director of operations at the University of Maryland's Office of Student Financial Aid.

He graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, in 2004, years before the recession hit. At the time, Lemma says, he considered student loans another form of financial aid.