The average student loan debt for recent college graduates is nearly $30,000, according to U.S News data. Sept. 14, 2021, at 9:00 a.m.
The average debt for a 4-year Bachelor's degree is $28,800. The average 4-year Bachelor's degree debt from a public college is $27,000. 65% of students seeking a Bachelor's degree from a public 4 year college have student loan debt. The average 4-year Bachelor's degree debt from a private for-profit college is $39,900.
Student Loan Debt by Age
17.7% of people with a student loan balance are under the age of 25. 68.6% of indebted student borrowers are between 25 and 50 years old. 34% of adults aged 18 to 29 years have student loan debt, making them more than twice as likely as adults in any other age group to have student debt.
The average college debt among student loan borrowers in America is $32,731, according to the Federal Reserve. This is an increase of approximately 20% from 2015-2016. Most borrowers have between $25,000 and $50,000 outstanding in student loan debt.
For borrowers with federal student loans, the average student loan debt in America is $37,062 according to the most recent data from March 2021 according to the Department of Education.
A good goal is to be debt-free by retirement age, either 65 or earlier if you want. If you have other goals, such as taking a sabbatical or starting a business, you should make sure that your debt isn't going to hold you back.
National Student Loan Debt
Generation Z held 7.37% of the total $1.57 trillion student loan debt. Millennials held 31.94% of the total debt.
The average monthly student loan payment is an estimated $460 based on previously recorded average payments and median average salaries among college graduates. The average borrower takes 20 years to repay their student loan debt.
Undergrad students typically leave college with about $30,000 in student loan debt, according our research on the average student loan debt. That lines up with the maximum amount of federal loans available to dependent students (those who rely on their parents' income information to fill out the FAFSA).
Is $50,000 in student loan debt a lot? The resounding answer is yes, $50,000 is a lot of student loan debt. But when you consider the cost to attend college and that most students take four to five years to graduate, that figure isn't a surprise.
The average credit card holder in the U.S. had $5,668 in credit card debt in Q2 2021 — that's 1% higher than Q1 2021's $5,611 average. From the first Q1 2020 to Q2 2021, the average credit card debt per cardholder decreased by $766 or 12%. The average cardholder had $6,434 in Q1 2020.
The average net worth of millennials is $18,000. However, this varies quite a bit across the millennial age range.
Gen X — Average debt: $140,643
With ages ranging from 41 to 56, Gen Xers have a wide range of life experiences, along with the highest average debt of any generation. Many members of Gen X are sending their kids to college for the first time, while still carrying an average student loan balance of just over $45,000.
As of Q2 of the 2019 fiscal year, for borrowers ages 25 to 34—a significant share of the Millennial population—there were $497.6 billion dollars in outstanding student loan debt for about 15.1 million borrowers. 104 This translates to an average (mean) student debt of around $33,000 dollars for each borrower.
That means most American adults either carry a mortgage, owe on a car, face monthly student loan payments, roll over charges on their credit cards—or all of the above. And yet, over half of Americans surveyed (53%) say that debt reduction is a top priority—while nearly a quarter (23%) say they have no debt.
New Experian data finds consumers in their 20s and 30s have up to $27,251 in credit card, auto loans and student loan debt. Debt is part of the average American's life, and you can start to accumulate it as young as your 20s.
Federal borrowers aged 25 to 34 owe an average debt of $33,570. Debt among 25- to 34-year-olds has increased 6.1% since 2017. 35- to 49-year-olds owe an average federal debt of $43,208.
It could realistically take between 15 and 20 years to pay off a $100,000 student loan balance, or longer if you require lower monthly payments.
A great many students graduate with far larger loans in a far less lucrative field than CS. $20,000 isn't that much as student loans go (at least in the USA), and CS is a field that will make it relatively easy to find a job that pays enough to pay back that loan in a few years, if your college/university is any good.
The $1.7 trillion student debt crisis is largely due to interest that grows each year, so even borrowers who consistently repay their debt face high interest rates that keep their debt equal to what they initially borrowed — or higher.