Experts: $1T student-loan debt is widening the wealth gap

Roughly 37 million people in the U.S. hold an estimated $1 trillion dollars in student-loan debt, which, experts say, is contributing to a widening gap between the rich and everyone else in the country, according to the Kansas City Star.

Graduates without debt have more money to invest and save, which helps to explain why the median 2009 net worth for a household without outstanding student debt was $117,700, almost three times that of a household saddled with debt, which was pegged at $42,800.

Of the nearly 20 million Americans who attend college each year, roughly 12 million borrow, accumulating an average for four-year graduates of $26,000 to $29,000 in loans.

Read more from the Kansas City Star.