Student loan debt: Averages and other statistics in 2024

The cost of college has more than doubled over the past four decades — and student loan borrowing has risen along with it. The student loan debt balance in the U.S. has increased by 66% over the past decade, and it now totals more than $1.77 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. 

Here’s a closer look at student loan debt statistics in the U.S. today, broken down by age, race, gender and other demographics. 

Total student loan debt statistics

As of the first quarter of 2023, student loan debt in the U.S. stands at a total of over $1.77 trillion. More than 92% of this is federal student loan debt while the remaining amount is owed on private student loans, according to Federal Student Aid (an office of the Department of Education). 

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 54% of bachelor’s degree students who attended public and private four-year schools graduated with student loans, according to the College Board. These students left school with an average balance of $29,100 in education debt.

Average federal student loan debt

The majority of student loan debt in the U.S. is made up of federal student loans. The total federal loan portfolio is more than $1.6 trillion. This is spread amongst nearly 44 million borrowers, according to Federal Student Aid. 

Here’s how much borrowers owe by federal student loan type:

^{Source: Federal Student Aid}

Average private student loan debt

As of the third quarter of 2022, only 7.22% of the total national student loan debt comes from private student loans, according to Enterval Analytics. These loans are issued by private institutions like banks, credit unions and online lenders. 

Students borrowed about $13 billion in private student loans during the 2021-2022 academic year. Of these students, 10% who earned a bachelor’s degree from a public four-year school graduated with $32,100 in private student loan debt. Another 13% who attended four-year private schools graduated with $42,800 in private loans. 

Unlike most federal student loans, private student loans generally have strict credit and income requirements. Because of this, most private loan borrowers apply with a co-signer. During the 2022-2023 academic year, nearly 91% of private undergraduate loans and 66% of private graduate loans had a co-signer, according to Enterval Analytics. 

The crisis of student loan debt in the U.S. 

Total student debt in the U.S. has nearly tripled in the past 15 years, from more than $619 billion in quarter one of 2008 to more than $1.77 trillion in quarter one of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. 

With this debt rising as average wages have fallen, many borrowers struggle to repay their student loans and are unable to pursue other life goals, such as buying a home or starting a family. Delinquencies and defaults on student loans are also more common compared to other types of debt.

Additionally, as of 2021, 40.4 million student loan borrowers left school without completing a degree, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. This means that many borrowers don’t enjoy the higher earnings that a college education can bring. 

Average student loan debt by year

While there’s little data available regarding average private student loan debt per year, more than 92% of all student debt is made up of federal loans. Here’s how the average federal student loan debt increased between 1995 and 2017, based on the most recent data from the Congressional Budget Office. 

^{Source: Congressional Budget Office}

Who has student loan debt?

The amount of student loan debt borrowers owe varies based on a variety of factors. Here’s a snapshot of the average student loan debt by state, age and gender as well as by race and ethnicity: 

Average student loan debt by state

Average student loan debt ranged from $18,344 in Utah up to $39,928 in New Hampshire for the graduating class of 2020, according to the latest data from The Institute for College Access and Success. 

Here’s the average student loan debt for college graduates by state:

Average student loan debt by age

Here’s how federal student debt loads compare by age group in 2023, according to Federal Student Aid data: 

^{Source: Federal Student Aid}

Average student loan debt by gender

The burden of student loan debt doesn’t fall equally between men and women. In general, women borrow more for their education, and they hold nearly two-thirds of the total student loan debt in the U.S., according to the American Association of University Women (AAUW). 

On average, women who earn their bachelor’s degree owe $2,700 more than men upon graduation, and they take about two years longer to pay it off. This is partly due to the gender pay gap, the unemployment crisis facing recent graduates and the growing cost of education, according to the AAUW.

Here’s how student loan debt compares between genders, further broken down by race and ethnicity:

^{Source: AAUW}

Average student loan debt by race and ethnicity

Young adult women and Black adults are more likely to carry student loan debt compared to young adult men and young white adults, respectively, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The gender wage gap and gender discrimination as well as both the racial wage gap and racial discrimination faced by Black adults play into these amounts of debt.

Here’s the average amount owed in federal student loans four years after completing a bachelor’s degree in the 2015-2016 academic year, broken down by race and ethnicity:

^{Source: National Center for Education Statistics}

Average student loan debt expected for a high school graduate

In 2023, borrowers have an average of $37,338 in federal student loan debt and $54,921 in private student loan debt, according to the Education Data Initiative. For 2023 high school graduates, these averages could increase if tuition costs continue to rise at both public and private colleges.

How long does it take to repay student loans?

The amount of time it takes to repay student loans depends on the type of loans you have and your repayment plan. According to a survey of 61,000 individuals by Research.com, student loan borrowers take an average of more than 20 years to pay off their education debt. 

If you have federal student loans, you’ll generally be placed on the standard 10-year repayment plan. However, you can switch to a different repayment plan that could extend your term. For example, you’ll have 20 or 25 years to repay your loans under an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan, after which the remainder of your balance will be forgiven. You could also opt to consolidate your federal loans, which can extend your term by up to 30 years. 

You’ll typically have five to 25 years to repay private student loans, depending on the lender. Note that private student loans don’t offer the repayment options that federal loans do — the only way to change your term on a private student loan is to refinance. 

Regardless of whether you have federal or private loans, you might be able to pay off your balance faster by making extra payments. You could also consider pursuing federal student loan forgiveness to have some or all of your federal balance canceled.

How many student loans are forgiven?

There are a variety of options for receiving federal loan forgiveness, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, Teacher Loan Forgiveness program and Perkins Loan cancellation. 

As of March 2023, there have been 3,139,959 PSLF applications processed, according to the Federal Student Aid. In May 2023, the Department of Education announced that more than 615,000 borrowers have had a total of $42 billion forgiven through the program. This was a result of the changes made by the Biden-Harris Administration that made it easier to qualify for this forgiveness.

How many student loans are in default?

A student loan is considered delinquent the day after a payment is missed. Here’s how many are in default, according to the type of loan:

Federal student loans

A federal student loan will generally enter default after payments have been missed for 270 days, depending on the type of loan. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, federal student interest accrual and loan payments were paused in March 2020. Eligible loans already in default also received various relief measures, such as halting interest accrual and wage garnishments. 

Here’s how many federal loans were in default in the five years before this administrative forbearance, according to Federal Student Aid:

^{Source: Federal Student Aid}

Private student loans

Private student loans usually enter default after 90 days, depending on the lender. As of the third quarter of 2022, 3% of private loans were 30 to 89 days past due, and 1.58% were 90 or more days past due, according to Enterval Analytics.

How to take control of student loan debt

If you’re one of the nearly 44 million Americans with student loans, here are some strategies that might help you better manage your loans: 

Pursue federal student loan forgiveness

Several forgiveness programs are available for federal student loan borrowers. For example, if you work full time for a government or nonprofit organization for at least 10 years and make 120 qualifying payments, you might qualify for PSLF. Or if you’re a highly-qualified teacher, you could have $5,000 or $17,500 forgiven (depending on what you teach) after working full time for five consecutive years at a low-income school.

Many states also offer student loan repayment assistance programs to qualifying professionals. To qualify for one of these programs, you’ll typically have to work in a particular career field (such as in healthcare or law) and agree to serve in a certain area for a specified amount of time.

Sign up for an income-driven repayment plan

Most federal student loan borrowers are eligible for at least one of the four IDR plans, which can help to make payments more affordable. 

“If you are experiencing long-term financial difficulty, such as you have a job but it doesn’t pay enough to make student loan repayment affordable, and you have no prospects for increasing income, [sign up for] an income-driven repayment plan or extended repayment plan,” says financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz. “These repayment plans reduce the monthly payment by stretching out the term of the loan.”

Each of the plans extends your repayment term up to 20 or 25 years (depending on the plan) while adjusting your monthly payments to a percentage of your discretionary income. If you still owe a balance at the end of your term, it will be forgiven.

Here are the four main IDR plans to choose from: 

• Pay As You Earn (PAYE): Payments are 10% of discretionary income (never more than what you’d pay on a standard 10-year plan) with forgiveness after 20 years.
• Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE): Payments are 10% of discretionary income (no cap on amount) with forgiveness after 20 years for undergraduate loans or 25 years for graduate loans.
• Income-Based Repayment (IBR): For loans made on or after July 1, 2014, payments are 10% of discretionary income with forgiveness after 20 years. For loans made before July 1, 2014, payments are 15% of discretionary income with forgiveness after 25 years. Payments on this plan are never more than what you’d pay on a standard 10-year plan.
• Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR): Payments are 20% of discretionary income (or what you’d pay on a 12-year plan with fixed payments) with forgiveness after 25 years.

Keep in mind that while an income-driven plan can make your monthly payments more affordable, it can increase your costs of borrowing over time. This is because extending your repayment term means paying more in interest.

Ask your employer about student loan assistance

An increasing number of employers have begun offering student loan repayment assistance to their employees, such as Google and Starbucks. If you work at one of these companies, be sure to take advantage of this benefit if possible. 

If your employer doesn’t offer student loan assistance, consider meeting with your boss or human resources department to see if it could be implemented. Be prepared to provide evidence for how this type of program works at other companies and how it can benefit both you and the employer. 

Refinance your high-interest loans

Student loan refinancing is the process of paying off one or more of your current loans with a new private loan. Depending on your credit, you might be able to qualify for a lower interest rate, which could save you money on interest and potentially help you pay off your loans faster. You could also opt to extend your repayment term to reduce your payments — though remember that this means you’ll pay more in interest over time.

You can refinance both federal and private loans. However, keep in mind that refinancing federal student loans means forfeiting access to federal repayment plans, forgiveness programs and other borrower protections.

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