Average Student Loan Debt In America: 2019 Facts & Figures
The average student debt in the United States is $32,731, while the median student loan debt amount is $17,000. With the rising costs of tuition and total student loan debt up around 302% since 2004, we decided to break down the data to get a better understanding of the different levels of student loan debt across different types of borrowers.
Student Loan Debt Clock
Student Loan Debt Clock
This Student Loan Debt clock reports an estimate of current student loan debt outstanding, including both federal and private student loans. This student loan debt clock is intended for entertainment purposes only. The actual total debt outstanding demonstrates more volatility at the beginning of each semester, when most student loans are disbursed.
In June 2010, total student loan debt outstanding exceeded total credit card debt outstanding for the first time. The seasonally adjusted figure for revolving credit in the Federal Reserves G.19 current report was $826.5 billion in June 2010. Revolving credit started declining in September 2008 when it reached a peak of $975.7 billion. The decrease is probably due a combination of higher minimum payments on credit cards, which were increased to 4% from 2%, lower credit card limits and tighter credit underwriting. Student loan debt, on the other hand, as been growing steadily because need-based grants have not been keeping pace with increases in college costs. Federal student loan debt outstanding reached approximately $665 billion and private student loan debt reached approximately $168 billion in June 2010, for a total student loan debt outstanding of $833 billion. Total student loan debt is increasing at a rate of about $2,853.88 per second.
Practical tips for minimizing debt and reducing the cost of education financing include:
Demographics Of Loan Holders
Surprisingly, its not just those in younger age groups that struggle with debt.
- Of people with student debt, only 37.5% are below the age of 30. The other 62.5% are older than 30.
Unsurprisingly, minorities are disproportionately affected by student debt.
- 77% of black students took out a federal loan to pay for higher education compared to the 60% national average for all students.
- The average debt upon graduation is also higher for black students. In 2012, for example, their average debt was $29,344 compared to the national average of $25,640.
- Troubles dont end after successfully securing a job after graduation: among workers with a bachelors degree or higher, black households still earn 23% less than the median for the overall population.
- Examining students that began college in 2003: 50% of black students have ceased student loan repayment and defaulted on their loans within 12 years due to financial insecurity .
The problem of debt is especially acute for women.
- While women account for 56% of undergraduates nationwide, they hold almost two-thirds of the total student debt .
- Not only are women more likely to take on debt, but their average debt is also $2700 greater than a mans.
- Women also take longer to repay their debt, resulting in more total interest. This is partially due to the gender pay gap women make on average 26% less than men, resulting in less discretionary money to pay off debts.
Read Also: Does Va Loan Work For Manufactured Homes
How Student Debt Affects Your Credit Score
Student loans and lines of credit form part of your credit history. If you miss or are late with your payments, it can affect your credit score.
Your credit score shows future lenders how risky it can be for them to lend you money. A poor credit score can also affect your ability to get a job, rent an apartment or get credit.
How Much Student Loan Debt Is Too Much
Kate Padgett-Walsh, associate professor of philosophy at Iowa State University
Student debt is too much when it threatens the physical and mental health of young borrowers. Todays college graduates now finish school with almost $30,000 in student loan debt, on average, an increase of over 300% from 1970 after adjusting for inflation.
It also causes borrowers to delay marriage, postpone renting or buying their own homes and put off starting new businesses.
Student debt is also too much when it blocks access to the American dream, the idea that success is possible in the U.S. no matter a persons background. Students who are the first in their family to attend college and low-income students have a much harder time paying off their student loans, and they end up defaulting more often than other students. Black students, who owe 60% more than their white counterparts, struggle even more to pay back their loans, in part because of persistent racial wealth and income gaps.
The governments original purpose in lending to students was to help people of modest means get a college education. But today, it is precisely those borrowers who are most harmed by student debt.
Read Also: How Can I Refinance My Car Loan With Bad Credit
Putting Physical Therapist Debt Into Perspective
The average debt for bachelor’s degree graduates in the United States is $29,900. For the sake of example, let’s say you ended up with $110,000 in student loans after graduating with your D.P.T. That would be an extra $80,100 in student debt than the national average.
As we’ll see in a moment, physical therapist salaries haven’t been rising as quickly as student loans. Brett Kestenbaum, Chief Operating Officer of Covalent Careers, a health care professionals career development company in San Diego, is worried this could cause physical therapists to begin abandoning physical therapy as a career path.
He says, “With the debt-to-earnings ratio increasing, physical therapists will likely start looking for alternative sources of income. This may cause an increase in professional drop-out rates over time.”
How Much Is The Average Student Loan Debt In The Uk
Students who graduated from universities in England in 2020 owed an average of £40,280 in student loan debt, compared with just under £25,000 for graduates of Welsh universities, £23,520 for graduates in Northern Ireland, and £13,890 for graduates of Scottish universities. Those figures are vastly higher than they were in the year 2000 when indebtedness for graduates in all three countries was under £3,000.
Also Check: Where To Refinance Auto Loan
How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
Unable To Repay Student Loans
If you cant pay the full amount due on time or have to miss a student loan payment, your loan may be considered delinquent and you may be charged late fees. Contact your loan servicer immediately for help, and ask them about your options.
Learn about COVID emergency relief for federal student loans that has been extended through September 30, 2021.
Recommended Reading: What Credit Score Is Needed For Usaa Auto Loan
Student Loan Debt Outstanding By Student Loan Program
There are 36 million student loan borrowers who hold approximately $1.3 billion in Direct Loans. Approximately 11.0 million student loan borrowers hold $246 billion in Federal Family Education Loans .
Direct Loans: $1,315.2 billion
Federal Family Education Loans : $245.9 billion
Perkins Loans: $5.2 billion
TOTAL: $1,566.3 billion
Other Important Student Loan Debt Statistics
In addition, there are several other statistics regarding the state of student loan debt:
- Nearly seven in 10 seniors who graduated from public and private non-profit colleges in 2018 had student loan debt.
- There are approximately 2.4 million borrowers who have private student loans.
- The average student loan debt at public colleges and universities is $30,030 .
- The average student loan debt at non-profit private colleges and universities is $33,900 .
- The average student loan debt at for-profit colleges and universities is $43,900 .
- Almost half of private loan borrowers borrowed less than they could have in federal Stafford loans for college.
- 17.7% of student loan borrower are under the age of 25.
- 68.6% of student loan borrowers are between 25 and 50 years old.
Recommended Reading: How Do I Get My Student Loan Number
Is A Physical Therapist Salary Worth The Debt
When it comes to whether or not a physical therapist salary is worth the student loans, there are three factors that need to be considered:
Let’s take a look at all three factors to see how they change the value of education for physical therapists.
How Much Money Do You Make As A Physical Therapist
Physical therapists are highly skilled and well-trained professionals who help patients recover from injury, illness or disability. As the U.S. population ages, physical therapists’ job outlook is strong. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that employment for physical therapists in the United States will grow 18% from 2019 to 2029, much faster than average.
In addition to projected job growth, earning potential in the career and the average cost of education for physical therapists are important factors.
Since 2015, the American Physical Therapy Association has required physical therapists to earn a Doctorate of Physical Therapy in order to sit for the license exam and receive certification. And it’s been an accreditation requirement for physical therapy schools since 2016. This can add another three years of school.
More school, of course, means more tuition. And more tuition usually leads to more student loans. Here’s how a physical therapist salary stacks up against student loans.
Don’t Miss: How To Get A Loan Officer License In California
How Much You Need To Repay
Verify your loan or line of credit contract to figure out the following:
- the total amount you owe
- the interest rate that will be applied to your debt
- how youll repay your debt
- how much youll pay
- how long it will take to pay back your debt
Contact the organization that provided your student loan or line of credit if you dont have the information listed above.
Do Student Loans Get Forgiven After 10 Years
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program discharges any remaining debt after 10 years of full-time employment in public service. Term: The forgiveness occurs after 120 monthly payments made on an eligible Federal Direct Loan. Periods of deferment and forbearance are not counted toward the 120 payments.
Recommended Reading: How To Get Loan Originator License
Federal Student Loan Status By Servicer
The major loan servicers handle billions of dollars of loans on behalf of the federal government. The chart above shows the status of loans managed by each entity. The nonprofit servicers have the lowest rate of loans in repayment and the lowest rate of loans in forbearance . Of the four biggest servicers, repayment and forbearance rates are as follows:
- AES-PHEAA: 67% repayment, 13% forbearance
- Great Lakes: 60% repayment, 11% forbearance
- Nelnet: 61% repayment, 8% forbearance
- Navient: 65% repayment, 12% forbearance
What The Us Can Learn From Student Loans In Different Countries
How Student Loan Hero Gets Paid
Student Loan Hero is compensated by companies on this site and this compensation may impact how and where offers appear on this site . Student Loan Hero does not include all lenders, savings products, or loan options available in the marketplace.
Student Loan Hero Advertiser Disclosure
Student Loan Hero is an advertising-supported comparison service. The site features products from our partners as well as institutions which are not advertising partners. While we make an effort to include the best deals available to the general public, we make no warranty that such information represents all available products.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided or commissioned by any financial institution. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors alone, and may not have been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the financial institution.
Weve got your back! Student Loan Hero is a completely free website 100% focused on helping student loan borrowers get the answers they need. Read more
How do we make money? Its actually pretty simple. If you choose to check out and become a customer of any of the loan providers featured on our site, we get compensated for sending you their way. This helps pay for our amazing staff of writers .
Recommended Reading: What Credit Score Is Needed For Usaa Auto Loan
Pros And Cons Of Debt Cancellation
Moody’s Investor Service predicts wiping out student debt would yield a stimulus to economic activity that is comparable to tax cuts in the near term, according to reporting by CNBC. Over the longer term, it could increase homeownership and boost the creation of small businesses. Outright debt cancellation would boost real gross domestic product by $86 billion to $108 billion per year, according to one study from Bard College’s Levy Economics Institute.
However, analysts warn of the risk of moral hazard caused by implying that the cost of your decisions will be borne by someone else. This could lead to even higher student debt burdens, as borrowers assume forgiveness will be ongoing. Another argument suggests that forgiving student loan balances provides, at best, a weak stimulus to the economy, because the savings are realized in small amounts over a long period of time, depending on how much a borrower pays back monthly with full or partial forgiveness.
Average Student Loan Debt In The Us
It seems everyone is talking about the issue with the student loan debt crisis in the United States. The hot topics are how difficult it is to not only get a college degree but how much debt a student will take on to get this education. With all the hype, how much average student loan debt is there in the United States?
Also Check: What Credit Score Is Needed For Usaa Auto Loan
Student Loan Delinquency Rates
As of Q3 2019, 10.9% of student loan debt was more than 90 days delinquent or in default, but that figure dropped to 6.5% in Q4 2020, due to Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act provisions that suspended payments while reporting all student loans as current. This drop in defaults and delinquencies is a positive trend.
The CARES Act provided borrowers with necessary student loan relief and gave borrowers who were behind an easy path to bring their student loans current.
Another act, called the American Rescue Plan Act , gave some student loan borrowers more relief, making any forgiven student loan debt between 2021 and 2025 tax-free.
Student loan delinquency rates based on degree status include:
- 40% of borrowers with student loans but no degree
- 15% of people who completed an associate’s degree
- 8% of those who completed a bachelor’s degree
- 6% of those with a graduate degree
Surprisingly, delinquency rates fall among borrowers with larger student loan balances. Taking on more debt is usually a sign of attaining a higher level of education, and with it, greater earning power as well.
Delinquency rates based on the total amount of outstanding student loan debt include:
- 21% among borrowers with less than $15,000 of outstanding debt
- 14% among borrowers with more than $15,000
The Current State Of Student Loan Debt
First, let’s break down the current state of student loan debt in 2021:
- Average Student Loan Debt: $39,351
- Average Student Loan Payment: $393
- Median Student Loan Payment: $222
Robert Farrington is Americas Millennial Money Expert® and Americas Student Loan Debt Expert, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page, or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared towards anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox, ABC, NBC, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Editorial Disclaimer:
You May Like: Can You Use A Va Loan For A Manufactured Home
The Rising Cost Of Higher Education
Student loan debt has ballooned in the past few decades, primarily because the costs associated with higher education tuition, fees, housing, and books have grown much faster than family incomes. The College Board has tracked costs at public and private universities since 1971.
When the organization first started monitoring prices, the average cost of one year at a public university was $1,410 . That was 15.6% of the median household income of $9,027 and manageable for many families without going into debt.
Fast forward to 2018, and the picture is very different. Today, the average cost of one year at a public university is $21,370, which is 34.8% of the median household income of $61,372.That could be why more than 70% of bachelors degree recipients emerge from college today with substantial student loan debt, and why many find themselves in need of loan consolidation and refinancing.
Government Would Lose Money By Canceling Student Loan Debt
If the federal government canceled all student loans, it would lose an estimated $1.8 trillion in outstanding debt. Money saved from the administration of federal loan programs would not make up the difference.
As evidence, the Twitter user who originally shared the claim cited the financial section of the most recent annual report from the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office.
According to the report, the net cost of the Direct Loan Program during the 2019 fiscal year was about $62.8 billion. For 2020, the net cost was $102.3 billion. Other higher education credit programs coordinated by the Education Department cost a net $13 billion and $3.5 billion in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The Facebook page, Millenials for Guillotines, pointed to these figures in defending its post of the student loan claim. The Twitter user who originated the claim did not respond to a request for comment.
But those numbers don’t only reflect the cost of “servicing” federal student loan programs, as the Facebook post makes it seem. They reflect the cost of the loans themselves which includes losses from defaulted loans, delayed payments, lower interest rates or other loan forgiveness.
Fact check:Treasury proposal wouldn’t levy new tax on PayPal, Venmo transactions
Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office give a better picture of the program’s cost, Alexander Holt, a policy analyst for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in an email.
Read Also: What Credit Score Does Usaa Use For Auto Loans
