On average, it takes about 10–20 years to pay off a student loan.
Overall, only 1% of all U.S. adults owed at least $100,000. Young college graduates with student loans are more likely than those without this kind of debt to say they struggle financially.
What is considered a lot of student loan debt? A lot of student loan debt is more than you can afford to repay after graduation. For many, this means having more than $70,000 – $100,000 in total student debt.
If you're an undergraduate, the maximum amount you can borrow in direct federal loans is $57,500. Graduate students can borrow up to $138,500 total in direct federal loans, including undergraduate borrowing.
Right now, the average student loan debt in the U.S. is nearly $40,000 but many students borrow much more. Depending on your field of study and career prospects, borrowing upwards of $100,000 to fund your higher education could either be a smart investment or a big mistake.
Due to escalating tuition and easy credit, the U.S. has 101 people who owe at least $1 million in federal student loans, according to the Education Department.
One rule to live by is to try to limit your total amount of student loans to a small percentage of what your expected annual salary may be from the first job you get after college.
It's an easy way to look up your intended career along with statistics related to its growth potential, projected need, and average starting salary. Monthly loan payments should be no more than 8-10 percent of expected gross monthly income.
That's what makes living with student loan debt so challenging. For example, if you have a $100,000 loan balance with a 7% interest rate and a 10-year repayment term, you'll owe $39,330 in interest payments over the life of the loan. So your $100,000 loan becomes $139,330, with monthly payments of $1,161.
Your interest charges will be added to the amount you owe, causing your loan to grow over time. This can occur if you are in a deferment for an unsubsidized loan or if you have an income-based repayment (IBR) plan and your payments are not large enough to cover the monthly accruing interest.
You're not alone if you are still paying off your student loans from your college education years ago. In fact, many Americans are paying their student loans well into middle age. A 2019 study from New York Life found that the average age when people finally pay off their student loans for good is 45.
The average student loan payment is between $200 and $299, according to the most recent available data from the Federal Reserve.
Here's the average debt balances by age group: Gen Z (ages 18 to 23): $9,593. Millennials (ages 24 to 39): $78,396. Gen X (ages 40 to 55): $135,841.
20% of U.S. adults report having paid off student loan debt. The 5-year annual average student loan debt growth rate is 15%. The average student loan debt growth rate outpaces rising tuition costs by 166.9%. In a single year, 31.5% of undergraduate students accepted federal loans.
Federal Student Loan Debt by Age
Federal borrowers 24 years old and younger owe an average of $14,559. Federal debt among 24-and-under borrowers has declined 2.8% since 2017. Federal borrowers aged 25 to 34 owe an average debt of $33,081.
A good rule of thumb is that total borrowing should not exceed the expected starting salary. If the average graduate finds a six-figure job, $100,000 in student debt might be a good idea. If the starting salary at graduation looks more like $50k, then students should look for ways to minimize debt.
The average outstanding federal student loan debt per borrower is $37,853. 52.6% of indebted borrowers owe $20,000 or less in federal student loans. 32.1% of indebted student borrowers owe $10,000 or less in federal student loans. 15.0% of borrowers owe less than $5,000.
Based on our analysis, if you are a man and owe more than $100,000, or a woman and owe more than $70,000, you have high student loan debt and your debt is likely not worth the income you'll earn over your lifetime.
This can leave borrowers with six-figure education debt worried that typical student loan advice may not apply to their situation. And the number of borrowers with high education debt is growing. As of 2023, there are one million federal student loan borrowers who owe $200,000 or more, according to StudentAid.gov.
As of the beginning of 2018, my average lawyer client had $211,000 of debt (sample size =48) and my average doctor client had $316,000 (sample size =110).