Student debt is on the rise in the country, and is affecting more and more households’ financial futures, a new study revealed.

According to a Pew Research study released mid-May, 37 percent of households headed by an adult under 40 have outstanding student loans, with the average student debt burden at $13,000, compared to 22 percent in 2001.

That being said, California has the second lowest borrowing rate in the nation, according to the Institute for College Access and Success. For the class of 2012, 52 percent of graduates of California colleges had student debt, with an average amount owed of $20,269.

The Pew Research study also found that student debt can significantly affect the amount of money a household gains over time, with households headed by young, college-educated adults without student debt having about seven times the net worth of those headed by those with student debt obligations.

According to 1977 Redwood graduate Laura Spelman, a local financial counselor, graduates lose a significant amount of money over a lifetime due to student debt.

“College-educated, dual-headed households with bachelors’ degrees from 4-year universities and an average student debt burden lose about $280,000 in wealth accumulation over a lifetime due to their debt obligation,” said Spelman, citing data from the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances and a report by Demos. “It can interfere by first of all reducing your disposable income, and it also can affect your credit score, which then affects your ability to get the lowest rates on home loans, car loans, any other kinds of debt, and of course it affects both short and long-term savings.”

Additionally, Spelman said that having outstanding student loans can have an effect on earning potential.

“It can also affect the earning side of the equation, as most employers run credit checks now and it could possibly affect employment if you had a default or any kind of negative action to your credit score,” Spelman said.

The Pew Research study also revealed that among college-educated young adults, the total indebtedness, which includes other types of debt in addition to student debt such as mortgage debt, credit card debt, and vehicle debt, of households with student debt is nearly twice that of those without.

Spelman said that this is because those with student debt have less disposable income.

“Because total income is reduced, those with student debt are less likely to save, and people without savings are more likely to use credit cards,” Spelman said.

However, Spelman said that an education received as a result of student loans can be beneficial to earnings.

“The flip side is college is an increase in an individual’s earning potential,” Spelman said.

Data from the same Pew Research study supports this claim, with the average income of households headed by college-graduates with student debt nearly twice that of households headed by graduates without college degrees.

Despite the effects that student debt can have on one’s financial future, many students still turn to loans to finance their higher education, especially with rising tuition costs.

Senior Katherine Rivas said that without the loan she is attempting to take out through a private loan company called Sallie Mae, she would not be able to afford to attend a transfer program through USC at American University in Paris.

“Our family doesn’t have enough income to pay it off as we go, so we decided a loan was the best way to go about it,” Rivas said. “We didn’t really save up a lot of money in advance. That was my only option: scholarship, go to College of Marin, or get a loan.”

Because the program Rivas is participating in is in its first year of existence, federal aid wasn’t available to her. Although she received a scholarship for half of her tuition, she had to take out a loan to subsidize the other half.

However, Rivas believes that taking out the loan was worth it because of the financial rewards a college education will bring later in life.

“It’s a long-term investment,” Rivas said. “There is no guarantee that I’ll get an amazing job through college, however there’s such a higher chance of being employed in a higher-paying job.”

College and Career Specialist Paula Vantrease advises students to use caution when taking out student loans.

“I use the formula that you don’t want to borrow more over the lifetime of your college education than you anticipate earning your first year out of college,” Vantrease said.

That said, Vantrease believes that a limited amount of student debt can be manageable.

“If a student has a package where they have everything, pretty much free money and some work study, and they’re going to a UC and they may have to borrow $5,000 to make it for that first year, I would say, borrow $5,000,” Vantrease said.

However, Vantrease said that she does not encourage taking out significant student loans to finance an education at a private university or an out-of-state public college.

“You do not want to have yourself be in debt—even $40,000 at the end of a four-year education is a lot of money,” Vantrease said. “And then you have to stop and think, ‘How long is it going to take me to pay it off?’ by looking at the next ten years. And then, if a student wants to go to grad school, or onto medical school, you’re looking at even more debt. So I don’t encourage it.”

Spelman said she believes that student loans in particular are a problem because the impacts are felt further in the future than other types of debt.

“I think it’s a current choice about future spending, which can be a particular problem more so than a credit card or an auto loan or a mortgage—those you make the decision and you start payments pretty quickly,” Spelman said. “You’re making a decision right now about a situation that you really don’t know about yet, so that’s one of the reasons that I think student debt is different. There are a lot of uncertainties and unknowns.”

Spanish teacher Gilda Obrador took out student loans to finance her education at a California state university, and believes that the investment paid off.

“It was definitely well worth it because I’m done paying and I  have an income thanks to that education,” Obrador said.

Obrador said that she specifically chose to go to a state school in order to reduce the amount of loans she would need to take out.

“ I wasn’t going to go to a place that was going to keep me paying a loan forever and ever, I wanted to do something that would be easy for me to pay off,” Obrador said. “I knew I was going to be teaching so I knew I wasn’t going to be making that much money, so I wasn’t going to take a large loan,” she said.

Obrador said that her student loan obligations did affect some of her other financial decisions.

“I didn’t buy a house until I was done paying my student loans, and I didn’t buy a new car until I was done paying that loan,” she said.

Spelman said that the key to being successful with student loans is careful planning.

“Student debt is an investment. It has great rewards, but it’s really a financial investment, and take the time to make sure you understand that investment and the ramifications of what debt means,” Spelman said.