RE: It is quite sad

Posted on: July 26, 2016 at 08:58:40 CT

It’s 2016 and Americans are more burdened by student loan debt than ever.

You’ve probably heard the statistics: Americans owe nearly $1.3 trillion in student loan debt, spread out among about 43 million borrowers. In fact, the average Class of 2016 graduate has $37,172 in student loan debt, up six percent from last year.

But how does this break down at a more granular level? Are people borrowing this money from public or private schools? Is it mostly from four-year or graduate degrees? What percentage of overall graduates carry debt?

Let’s take a look.
General student loan debt facts

First, let’s start with a general picture of the student loan debt landscape. The most recent reports indicate there is:

$1.26 trillion in total U.S. student loan debt
43.3 million Americans with student loan debt
Student loan delinquency rate of 11.6%
Average monthly student loan payment (for borrower aged 20 to 30 years): $351
Median monthly student loan payment (for borrower aged 20 to 30 years): $203

(Data via newyorkfed.org here and here and clevelandfed.org here)
Federal student loan portfolio, Q4 2015

Now let’s dive into how much debt student loan borrowers carry by loan type, term, and more.
Student loan debt statistics by loan type

Direct Loans – $840.7 billion; 29.9 million borrowers
FFEL Loans – $363.6 billion; 17.9 million borrowers.
Perkins Loans – $8.1 billion; 2.8 million borrowers.
Stafford Subsidized Loans – $264.8 billion; 29.1 million borrowers
Unsubsidized – $404.9 billion; 27.1 million borrowers
Stafford combined – $669.7 billion; 32.1 million unique recipients
Grad PLUS – $46.8 billion; 1.0 million borrowers
Parent PLUS – $71.1 billion; 3.3 million borrowers
Perkins – $8.1 billion; 2.8 million borrowers
Consolidation – $416.7 billion; 11.9 million borrowers

(Data via Studentaid.ed.gov)
Student debt statistics by loan status

Loans in repayment – $397.1 billion; 14.3 million borrowers
Loans in deferment – $99.2 billion; 3.4 million borrowers
Loans in forbearance – $89.5 billion; 2.7 million borrowers
Loans in default – $50.8 billion; 3.3 million borrowers

Student loan statistics by repayment plan

Loans under 10-year Standard Repayment Plan – $183.9 billion; 11.08 million borrowers
Loans greater than 10 years – $70.1 billion; 1.64 million borrowers
Graduated repayment plan, 10 years or less – $60.7 billion; 2.43 million borrowers
Graduated repayment plan, greater than 10 years – $12.2 billion; 0.27 million borrowers
Income-contingent plan – $22.1 billion; 0.61 million borrowers
Income-based plan – $157.7 billion; 2.83 million borrowers
Pay As You Earn – $30.5 billion; 0.77 million borrowers

Student loan debt by servicer (as of September 30, 2015)

student-debt-statistics
More shocking student loan debt statistics

If those numbers weren’t stunning enough, here’s a closer look at how students accumulate debt based on the type of school they attend.

In 2012, 71 percent of students graduating from four-year colleges had student loan debt:

Represents 1.3 million students graduating with debt, increase from 1.1 million in 2008
66 percent of graduates from public colleges had loans (average debt of $25,550)
75 percent of graduates from private nonprofit colleges had loans (average debt of $32,300)
88 percent of graduates from for-profit colleges had loans (average debt of $39,950)

Twenty percent of 2012 graduate loans were private

Graduates who received Pell Grants were likely to borrow, and borrow more:

88 percent of graduates who received Pell Grants had student loans in 2012, with an average balance of $31,200
53 percent of those who didn’t receive a Pell Grant had student loan debt and borrowed $4,750 less ($26,450)

(Data via Ticas.org)
Private student loan debt statistics

Private student loan debt is on the rise; $6.2 billion was borrowed in 2012-2013, up from $5.5 billion in 2011-2012
From 2011-2012, borrowers didn’t take advantage of federal student loans as much as they could have: 19 percent didn’t take out Stafford loans, 8 percent didn’t apply for federal financial aid, 11 percent applied for federal aid but didn’t take out a Stafford loan, 28 percent had Stafford loans but borrowed less than they were eligible for
In 2011-2012, 48 percent of private loan borrowers attended schools that had tuition costs of $10,000 or less
Nearly 1.4 million undergraduates borrowed private loans in 2011-2012

Graduate student loan debt

About 40 percent of the $1 trillion student loan debt was used to finance graduate and professional degrees.

Combined undergraduate and graduate debt by degree:

MBA = $42,000 (11% of graduate degrees)
Master of Education = $50,879 (16%)
Master of Science = $50,400 (18%)
Master of Arts = $58,539 (8%)
Law = $140,616 (4%)
Medicine and health sciences = $161,772 (5%)

Clearly, as these student loan debt statistics show, the cost of attending college is becoming a growing burden for a huge portion of Americans.

What are you doing to pay off your debt and ensure you aren’t another statistic? Be sure to let us know how we can help.