Student Loan Debt

Student Loan Debt Overview
Student loan debt grows $2,726 every second as illustrated by Market Watch's Student Loan Debt Clock.

In 1965, the Higher Education Act was created to strengthen the U.S. colleges and universities and provide financial assistance to college students by increasing federal money given to the institutions, development of scholarship programs, and availability of low-interest loans for students. In order to finance their education, students within the United States often take out student loans to attend both public and private institutions. Student loan debt is the second largest form of consumer debt in the United States and the only type of consumer debt that has grown since U.S. consumer debt peaked in 2008. Current student loan debt is over 1 trillion dollars and continues to rise.

According to this report from CCTV, seven out of ten students graduate with thousands of dollars in student loan debt. There are about 40 million borrowers and total student loan debt has doubled since 2006. Total student loan debt surpassed $1.3 trillion in 2015 and continues to grow. Student loan debt makes up 6% of overall national debt and majority of loans are provided by the government. Even though students are graduating with enormous debt, starting salaries are not increasing to make finances more manageable for new graduates and affects ability to own houses, cars, etc.

The average borrower will graduate with approximately $26,000 in student loan debt. 1 in 10 borrowers will have $40,000 in debt. About 1% graduate for $100,000 in student loan debt.