Highlights of the report. Over $1.75 trillion is owed in student loans in the United States, which has grown six times faster than the national economy.*
- 42.9 million Americans owe an average of $37,105 to the federal government in student loan debt.
- The CARES Act of 2020 provided general relief from college debt for more than 35 million of these borrowers.
- A bachelor’s degree requires an average of $30,030 in student loans from a public university.
Despite the fact that the total student loan debt has climbed at an average monthly rate of $56 million, growth slowed while several million federal loans were under 0% interest deferment.
COVID’s Impact on Student Debt
A surge in unemployment and 3.2 million new federal student loan borrowers contributed to the highest increase in student loan debt since 2013. However, initiatives to alleviate student debt may have contributed to a decrease in the average student loan debt.
- Nearly 9% of public school students will be late on their student loan payments in May of 2020.
- Some 7 percent of private, nonprofit school borrowers and 24 percent of private, for-profit school borrowers were delinquent in debt repayment.
- Private student loans will be in repayment 75.3 percent of the time in 2020, while 20 percent of them will be in deferment.
- Few private lenders (if any) postponed interest while suspending payments for up to three months.
Federal Loan Debt Under CARES
A total of $1,59 billion in federal student loan debt is owed by 42,9 million borrowers. In the second and third quarters of 2020, the CARES Act gave relief from student loan debt to at least 20 million borrowers who qualified for the program.
- The CARES Act of 2020 might provide student debt relief for 35 million Americans.
- Repayments of student loans fell by 82% in 2020’s second and third financial quarters, while forbearance of student loans rose by 375%.
- The percentage of student loans in forbearance decreased by 0.44 percent between the third and fourth quarters of the fiscal year.
- Until September 2021, 56.65% of all federal student loan debt will be in forbearance.
- Repayment on 400,000 federal student loans, or 0.88 percent, has decreased by 97.8 percent from the second financial quarter, when 40.1% of borrowers were repaying their debts.
- Students who are still in school account for 8% of the total student loan debt.
The CARES Act may not apply to all government loans. Deferment and income-driven repayment options may still be available to borrowers with such loans.
How many college students are in debt in the US?
According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, about 42.9 million Americans have federal student loans. An examination of census data shows that nearly one out of every eight people in the United States has student loan debt.
What percent of college students have no debt?
In most cases, graduates of four-year public universities leave school with a manageable level of student debt. In four-year public colleges, 42% of students graduated debt-free*, and 78% did so with debts of less than $30,000 (as of 2013). Only 4% of public university graduates earned more than $60,000 in their first year of employment. Those with more than $100,000 in debt are even rarer: less than half of one percent of all four-year public university students who complete their degrees are in this category. 1
Student Debt in Perspective
Tuition, fees, accommodation and board, and other educational expenses, such as textbooks, are all covered by student loans. A four-year degree at a public institution costs $6,480 per year, or $25,921 upon graduation for those who borrow. The average debt of all graduates of public universities, including those who did not borrow, is $16,300. 1 Consider that the average bachelor’s degree holder earns around $25,000 more per year than the average high school graduate in order to put that debt into perspective. 2 Over the course of their lives, bachelor’s degree holders earn an additional $1 million in wages.” 3
Over the past two decades, the percentage of student-loan borrowers’ income that goes toward debt payments has remained stable or even decreased.
4 Student debt payments at public four-year colleges average $269 per month, despite the fact that 42 percent of undergraduates at these institutions graduate with no student loan debt. 5 Most students with federal student loans are now eligible for an income-driven repayment plan, which was made available in recent years. Ten percent is a common percentage of students’ discretionary income under these arrangements. In 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, the average monthly payment for four-year public university students in income-driven repayment programs was $117. 6
Since the beginning of this century, some have argued that student loan debt prohibits graduates from becoming property owners.. Although data was examined, it was found that going to college actually increases a person’s likelihood of owning a property, rather than decreases it. “The White House survey found that at the age of 26, households with student debt are more likely to purchase a home than those who did not attend college. “As of the age of 34, college students with and without student debt are just as likely to own a property as those without a college degree.” 6
Total Student Debt
The overall amount of student loan debt in the United States, including graduate student loans, is now estimated by some to be around $1.5 trillion. True, the amount of student debt has risen over the previous two decades, but this is not a new phenomenon. However, rising student numbers at the nation’s colleges and universities are a contributing factor in this rise. Graduate students make up only 15% of all students in postsecondary institutions, but they are responsible for 40% of all outstanding student loan debt. 7 As they pursue a higher-paying profession, students in these schools incur greater debt. Advanced degrees bring in $58,000 more each year than a high school diploma does. 2
1. National Center for Education Statistics, 201516 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study.
2. Current Population Survey, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
As of 2014, do the advantages of higher education still outweigh the costs of attendance?
“Is There a Student Debt Crisis Coming?” by Akers and Chingo 2014.
Using the studentloans.gov payback estimator, $29,490 is owed, with an interest rate of 4.53 percent (the rate for direct federal loans in 2020 will be 4.53 percent).
Investing in Higher Education: Benefits, Challenges, and the Current State of Student Debt, White House Council of Economic Advisors, July 2016.
“The Graduate Student Debt Review,” New American Foundation, by Delisle, 2007.
How many college students are in debt 2021?
Debt accumulated by students in the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades.
It is estimated that Americans would owe $1.73 trillion in student loans by the second quarter of 2021, according to the Federal Reserve. While interest rates on federal student loans were put on hold for months and billions of federally held student loans were eliminated by the Biden Administration, the record-breaking figure shows a 3% increase over the second quarter of 2020.
What percentage of college students take student loans?
Public college graduates have student loans at a rate of 66%. Approximately $26,900 in student loans were accrued by these graduates. There were 68 percent of students who graduated with student loans from private non-profit universities. The average student loan debt for these grads was $31,450.
What is the average college debt?
According to data from U.S. News and World Report, the average student loan debt for recent college grads is about $30,000. 9:00 a.m. on September 14, 2021 According to U.S. News’ annual survey, college graduates in the class of 2020 who took out student loans borrowed an average of $29,927.
What is the average student loan debt in 2021?
According to Federal Reserve figures for the second quarter of 2021, the total student loan debt in the United States is $1.73 trillion.
According to the Department of Education’s most recent data from March 2021, the average student loan debt in the United States is $37,062.
According to the Federal Student Aid data, $1.59 trillion of the overall student debt is federal loans, while $136.31 billion of the total student debt is private loans.
All other forms of debt in the United States except for house debt have been overtaken by student loans.
For the most part, you’d anticipate mortgages to be the most common form of debt, but when it comes to student loans, they’re in a close second place. In order to earn an undergraduate or graduate degree, you may have to fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Considering the ubiquity of student loan debt and the advent of student loan forgiveness programs, we’ve compiled a list of student loan debt data to assist you better comprehend the student loan landscape.
Who owns most student debt?
The U.S. Department of Education owns the vast majority of student loans, at 92%, according to a report released in July 2021 by academic data business MeasureOne. Federal student loan borrowers totaled 42.9 million as of September 30, 2013.
Why is student debt so high?
Because more and more students are attending college, the amount of student debt has increased. The majority of high school students did not enroll at colleges or universities in the late 1980s and early 1990s; those who did only borrowed money to do so. More and more high school students are enrolling in college and taking out student loans.
Since 2009, the average student’s loan load has increased by 26%, according to US News and World Report. Because college tuition has risen at a far quicker rate than wages, students are taking out more loans to pay for their education. The price of a college education in the United States is higher than in nearly every other wealthy country, where it is frequently free or significantly subsidized. In the wake of the Great Recession, states in the United States have cut back on financing for public institutions and colleges.
Is college worth the debt?
The Debt Numbers for College It’s still a good investment to get a college degree, in terms of the overall economy. Students graduate with an average $30,000 in debt, but it doesn’t diminish the value of their four-year degree in terms of cost.
How long pay off student debt?
When it comes to repaying student debts, you may expect to spend anywhere from 10 to 30 years doing so. Even though federal loans have a standard repayment plan of 10 years, most borrowers take longer to pay off their debt.
