In 2008, young voters by all accounts were the key to sending Barack Obama to the White House. While their numbers slid back in the election four years later, they were still a key Democratic constituency, one that is increasingly underwater financially.

A Harvard survey found that 57 percent of people under the age of 30 think student debt is the biggest problem they face in life. The burden is so overwhelming that the default rate for student loans is much higher than other areas of debt. Many graduates are just throwing up their hands and resigning themselves to a life without credit.

Trying to hold onto and motivate that demographic, candidates have to find an issue that resonates with them. In student loans – actually, student debt – they may have found the rallying cry that will bond them with those with a newly printed, pricey sheepskin, their parents, and millions of Americans who 10, 20, and even 30 years after graduation are still feeling the effects of the hole they walked into as they walked out of college.

The Boston Globe spotlights Democratic contenders for the presidential nomination making the debt burden on students a top issue for the 2016 campaign, a focus that is sure to trickle down the ballot. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has made debt relief a key point to her agenda and her drumbeat over the issue is forcing it into the campaign conversation.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is making student loans a cornerstone of his Democratic campaign, has proposed the federal government send $1 to states for every $2 they add to higher education budgets. Both he and Warren have called for making public schools tuition-free, an idea that could cost federal taxpayers at least $750 billion.

But Republicans have picked up on the issue as well. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have framed mounting student debt as an obstacle to economic mobility. Sen. Lindsey Graham says he’d like to see students be able to refinance their loans at a lower rate while Rick Perry says, by God, he’ll “do something” about the increasing debt burden. Sen. Marco Rubio is perhaps best positioned to speak about the issue after his highly publicized problems with personal finance included about $150,000 in student loan debts.

The Globe piece points out that for all the rhetoric, there is little empirical evidence pointing to the desultory effect college debt has on the economy. But for many who can’t buy a home, upgrade their car, take a vacation, or work in their chosen field, the perception is their reality.

The estimated total student debt has gone over the $1 trillion mark and more than 9 million people – parents and students – take advantage of the federal student loan program each year. But if you think millennials are the only ones bearing the brunt of the burden, think again.

A report in April from the New York Federal Reserve Bank says the fastest growing segment of the population with student debt is the plus-60 crowd, whose balance grew an astounding 850 percent between 2004 and 2014. While 65 percent of student debt is held by people under 39, more than 30 percent is owed by people between 40 and 59.

The reasons are varied, with the rising cost of tuition and fees the main culprit, not just in private schools but public colleges and universities as well. UMass officials have said they will have to hike tuition 5 to 8 percent unless the state ups its support for higher ed. Massachusetts is not an outlier; states around the country are cutting back on their higher education budgets as well.

But it is clear that student debt, regardless of the price tag, is an issue that will get an awful lot of attention over the next 17 months.

–JACK SULLIVAN 

 

BEACON HILL

Gov. Charlie Baker and House Speaker Robert DeLeo say they’d like to see follow-up scrutiny after a Boston Herald report that former governor Deval Patrick steered funds from quasi-public authorities into an account that paid for overseas trade trips. (Boston Herald)

A Berkshire Eagle editorial argues that the film tax credit which has attracted productions mainly in greater Boston needs to be applied more equitably in order to gain statewide support to continue the program.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

The new amended plan for the stalled redevelopment of downtown Quincy calls for a smaller project in scope and $145 million in public funds. (Patriot Ledger)

Yvonne Abraham finds a lot not to like about throwback Boston City Councilor Steve Murphy, who made news this week for hiring a former court clerk who was thrown out of that job by the state’s highest court for bigoted behavior and a less-than-stellar work ethic. (Boston Globe)

CASINOS

Millions of dollars will be directed from casinos to the horse racing industry — even though it barely still exists in Massachusetts — a situation engineered by House Speaker Robert DeLeo, reports the Globe‘s Sean Murphy.

Members of the New Bedford-area fishing industry have come out in force opposing a proposed waterfront casino on the harbor. (Standard-Times)

OLYMPICS

The latest idea for seafood distributors and meatpackers in the Widett Circle area, where an Olympic stadium is envisioned: Relocate them to the Marine Industrial Park in South Boston. (Boston Globe)

Boston 2024 has positioned the MBTA as a major asset to its bid; as the Boston Business Journal says “cue the laugh track.”

The challenges facing Boston 2024 planners are many and complicated, writes Michael Levenson. (Boston Globe)

ELECTIONS

Fall River City Councilor Jasiel Correia, whose charges that former mayor Will Flanagan tried to intimidate him with a gun during a late-night meeting on the waterfront were dismissed by a special prosecutor, is planning to challenge Mayor Sam Sutter for the office. (Herald News)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

The former president of Trader Joe’s has opened a food market in Dorchester aimed at bringing affordable nutrition to low-income areas by selling food that is almost-but-not-quite at its expiration date. (Greater Boston)

EDUCATION

Jeff Riley, the state receiver of the Lawrence schools, plans to dismiss 59 teachers at the end of this school year, all of them originally hired by him. (Eagle-Tribune)

The Bay State Banner looks at the charter school fight that incoming Boston schools superintendent Tommy Chang already has on his hands.

Educators across Massachusetts are calling for a three-year break from high-stakes testing. (WBUR) For more on the “opt-out” movement that has some students refusing to take standardized tests, check out this recent CommonWealth video conversation.

Massachusetts institutions should lead in offering inmates college educations, argues Phyllis Wentworth of the Wentworth Institute of Technology. (CommonWealth)

The University of Missouri is considering banning women from fraternities after 10 p.m.on “high-risk” nights. (National Review)

HEALTH CARE

A Fall River psychiatrist is one of the country’s top prescribers of tranquilizer drugs. (ProPublica)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

The Obama administration is setting the stage for an executive order to limit emissions from airplanes to reduce air pollution and address some climate change issues. (U.S. News & World Report)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

A 16-year-old on a bicycle was shot to death Wednesday night in Dorchester, prompting expressions of outrage by city and community leaders. (Boston Herald)

Four small stores in Lawrence are accused of allowing food stamp recipients to withdraw cash from electronic benefits cards for a substantial fee. Prosecutors say the store owners pocketed more than $2.5 million. (Eagle-Tribune)

The attorney for a white suburban Texas police officer who resigned after a video showing him throwing a teenaged black girl to the ground and pointing his gun at her friends says her client was under a lot of stress at the time after responding to a suicide and an attempted suicide earlier in the day. (New York Times)

Westport police say they spent more than $1,000 responding to a hoax called in by a 14-year-old student at the town’s high school who claimed he was hiding in a closet and a shooter was roaming the halls. (Herald News)

MEDIA

GateHouse Media, the publisher of several South Coast newspapers, has challenged a motion by lawyers for Aaron Hernandez to keep documents relating to their claim of juror misconduct during his murder trial sealed. (Herald News)

Media blogger Jim Romenesko is sort of retiring. (Poynter) Dan Kennedy says it’s time for Poynter to apologize to Romenesko for painting him with false plagiarism charges as he was leaving the institute in 2011. (Media Nation)