Higher education is a good investment. Yet, as any businessperson can tell you, even a good long-term investment can be swamped by high start-up costs.

That’s exactly what too many recent college graduates are finding as they emerge from college or professional school and run right into a “jobless recovery.”

With the national unemployment rate hovering just under 10 percent during a long-term recession, many grads are finding that weeks of joblessness stretch into months or even years.

The stories of recently minted lawyers working at Starbucks are not far-fetched. Research also shows that the longer people are out of work the tougher it is for them to land a well-paying job when the economy does begin to recover.

For years, too many American families have operated with the blind belief that a college education would, in the long term, pay for itself.

And, indeed, the evidence clearly shows that for most students it does.

The mantra for several generations of parents has been, “Get into the best college you can and we will figure out a way to pay for that.”

But, over the years, the cost of education — particularly at elite schools — has exploded. It is not unusual for undergrads at some of these schools to face annual costs of $50,000 or more.

For years, the federal government’s student loan program has enabled millions of students to attend college who would not have been able to do so otherwise.

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama signed a bill ending the federal government’s 45-year relationship with private lenders. Now it will make loans directly to students.

That, however, will do little to reduce what many see as a looming student loan default crisis that could cost taxpayers billions.

Between 2006 and 2009, the annual default rate for student loans has gone from 5.2 percent to 7.2 percent. The rate is expected to jump again this year.

The biggest problem is found among for-profit institutions like the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University, two of the largest.

New data from the U.S. Department of Education show that 46.3 percent of all loans given to students at two- and four-year for-profit colleges eventually go into default.

The overall rate for all students is 15.8 percent.

Blame for the growing problem needs to be shared by lenders, government, colleges, parents and students.

Everyone involved must approach the student-loan equation from a more business-like perspective.

The basic question is simple — after four years of schooling, is it realistic to think the student will land a job paying enough money to handle his or her debt?

The mortgage crisis started this same way — borrowers seeking and lenders granting loans to people who could not handle their payments.

The college debt crisis is developing in nearly the same way — people eager to make and receive loans without realistically assessing the likelihood of repayment.

Nobody, of course, wants to quash a young person’s college dream.

But no young person wants to be saddled with a post-college nightmare — years of huge loan payments and a low-paying job.

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