"Unprecedented growth in student loans over the past two years is raising questions about whether a generation will be saddled with debt before it has even entered the workforce, according to data that the Equifax Inc credit bureau provided exclusively to Reuters," Reuters reports. "The number of U.S. student loan accounts has risen 29 percent to 69 million over two years, according to Equifax, while balances have jumped by $105 billion to $527 billion. 'We've never seen this high student loan activity,' said Dann Adams, president of Equifax's U.S. Information Systems. The demand for student loans results from college graduates pursuing advanced degrees because of high unemployment. Also, parents' depleted savings mean more college-age children are forced to take on debt."