Poor Americans are taking out student loans, failing to graduate, and struggling to pay back their debts for years

The nation's poorest students are having the most difficulty paying their student loans, Federal Reserve officials said Thursday.

Since the recovery from the financial crisis began, more people from low-income areas have sought to take on college loans.

Unfortunately, these low-income people are not getting the return on investment they sought.

The reason: many of them are not graduating.

That's according to Andrew Haughwout, senior vice president with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

This trend could have enormous repercussions. Student debt can't be discharged through bankruptcy, like credit card debt.

This chart shows how students from low-income households are struggling with debt for much longer than higher-income students:

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