Student Loan Debt in the USA With Its Statistics

A degree is considered very important. Most parents think without a degree you cannot get a job. Today as a college student or as a student’s parents we know that degrees are not cheap anymore as it used to be before.

Every year the cost is doubling than what it was a year ago. Public university’s four-year average out-of-state tuition and fees are $26,290 per year whereas private colleges are more costly, with an average cost of $35,830 for tuition and fees. So it requires huge financial sacrifice than it did decades ago.

For many Americans paying their costs only through savings is not enough. So to pursue higher education students and families are relying on loans and that can be a real struggle repaying it.

Employers at the end of the day love universities degree.  It is likely that student loan debt will continue to increase based on the increased educational requirements for jobs and increasing tuition fees.

Many students struggle to pay for day-to-day necessities like rent and groceries due to increasing student debt. It also acts as a hindrance for students to buy a home, start a new business or pursue a new career opportunity.

After mortgages, student loan debt is the second biggest source of household debt. Americans have more student loan debt on an individual basis than credit card or auto loan debt. With tuition fees increasing every year at an alarming rate Americans hold a daunting amount of student loan debt.

Every year college and university students graduate with the hope that they will get jobs by using their degrees and shape a successful career. But most Americans as they enter job is left with the burden of paying their debts with their first payment which can even take decades to pay off.

More than 44 million Americans today have outstanding student loan debt in the U.S which now sums up to approximately $1.6 trillion. Student loan debt in default or due over 90 days accounts for roughly 11%.

Some more facts about student loan debts are:

• 14.4% of adults are stuck with a student loan.
• 54% of college students in order to pay for their education are on student loan debt.
• Per the borrower, the average amount of student loan debt is $35,359.

There are basically three types of student loan in the USA:

1. Federal student loans made to students directly. 
2. Federal student loans made to parents.
3. Private student loans.

Heightening of Student loan debt over 6 years

As we can see from the above chart that every year the student loan debt kept on increasing. In 2019 the outstanding debt amounted to $1.5 trillion whereas in 2014 it was $1.06 trillion which was accelerated by 45%. By 2024, if the current rate of growth continues total student loan debt could reach $2 trillion.

Highest student loan debt by states in the USA

We have looked at the student loan debt as a whole but do you have any idea which state has the highest outstanding student loan debt?

Now we will look at the breakdown of USA’s top 10 state-wise student loan debts categorizing it as from highest to relatively high.

We can see from the above data that California has the highest amount of student loan debt with $129.6 billion whereas New Jersey has relatively lower student loan debt with $41.6 billion.

Lowest student loan debt by states in the USA

Now we will look at the breakdown of USA’s top 10 state-wise student loan debt categorizing it as from lowest to relatively low.

Here from the above data, Wyoming had the lowest student loan debt with $1.5 billion and where Maine had relatively higher than other states with $5.9 billion.

Average student loan debt of US States

We have looked at the total student loan debt of US states. Now we will be looking at the average student loan debt. We have categorized it as states with the highest and lowest average student loan debt.

The top ten states with the highest average student loan debt:

1. Connecticut ($38,510)
2. Pennsylvania ($36,854)
3. Rhode Island ($36,250)
4. New Hampshire ($34,415)
5. Delaware ($34,144)
6. New Jersey ($32,247)
7. Massachusetts $32,065
8. Alabama ($31,899)
9. Minnesota ($31,734)
10. Maine ($31,364)

The top ten states with the lowest average student loan debt:

1. Utah ($18,838)
2. New Mexico ($21,237)
3. Nevada ($22,064)
4. Wyoming ($22,254)
5. California ($22,785)
6.  Washington ($23,936)
7. Arizona ($23,967)
8. Florida ($24,041)
9. Hawaii ($25,125)
10. Tennessee ($25,252)

From the above statistics Connecticut has the highest average student loan debt at graduation with $38,510 whereas Utah has the lowest average student loan debt at graduation with $18,838.

By the type of school:

Average student loan debt by the type of school:

Average student loan debt in pubic college- $26,900

Average student loan debt in Private nonprofit schools- $32,600

Average student loan debt in Private for-profit schools- $39,950

By age bracket:

Total student debt by age bracket:

Average student loan debt by age bracket:

Conclusion

The bottom line is this trend of taking student loan for student purpose will increase more year by year and similarly the outstanding student loan debt of US students will also be humongous in recent years.

Students these days try to earn their degrees from reputed universities in order to increase their income after graduation but even after they get highly paid jobs it takes months and years to pay off their debts. So the first salary that the students might be thinking to give it to their parents or treat their friends and families may end up paying the outstanding student loan.