LAS VEGAS — As college students are forced to take out student loans or plied with credit card offers on campus, credit unions can educate students on how to better manage it, Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to Be Young author Anya Kamenetz, 26, told America's Credit Union Conference & Expo.

Tuition is up three times the rise of inflation, state support for colleges is at its lowest point in a couple generations and individual students are bearing the brunt of it, often putting text books as well as social expenses on a credit card, she explained. "Student loan debt arrived out of almost nowhere to a phenomenon of affecting nearly all students today," Kamenetz commented.

The impact of these burdens are not just financial, but psychological. She outlined the life of 30-year-old Myriam who had to stop going to school full-time after her mother lost her job and started working to pay for the essentials and taking out even more loans to fund college. Once she got her degree in the arts she decided to go into a more stable job than what she had studied for so she could pay off her debts. Kamenetz cited a survey that showed 48% of student borrowers experienced anxiety or sleeplessness over their debts.