Our Blog Posts...

Can the student loan situation get any worse? For starters, student loan debt just hit $1.5 trillion. According to federalreserve.gov, we achieved this milestone during the first quarter of 2018. It appears that outstanding student debt now exceeds auto loan debt ($1.1 trillion) and credit card debt ($977 billion).

Today, Americans are more burdened by student loan debt than ever. About four in 10 people who’ve gone to college have taken out loans to pay for school. Here are some other surprising statistics on student loans.

STUDENT LOAN DEBT STATISTICS

• $1.52 trillion - total amount of outstanding student loan debt
• 44.2 million - total number of student loan borrowers
• $27,975 - average student loan debt per borrower
• 60% - percentage of graduates from the Class of 2016 with student debt
• 11.5% - average federal student loan default rate
• $351 - average monthly student loan payment
• $57,600 - average student loan debt per graduate student

STUDENT LOAN DEBT STATISTICS BY LOAN TYPE

According to StudentAid.Ed.Gov here is the breakdown of each type of student loan:

CAN THE STUDENT LOAN CRISIS GET ANY WORSE?

The answer is YES, starting July 1st.

Every year, the federal government sets the annual percentage rates for student loans taken out in the following academic year. The rate is set based on the interest rates for ten-year Treasury notes, plus a fixed margin that varies based on the type of federal loan the student receives.

Unfortunately for student borrowers, interest rates on ten-year Treasury notes rose for the 2018-2019 academic year. As a result, rates for undergraduate loans will climb to 5.05% from the current 4.45%. Graduate loans will increase to 6.60% from 6.00%. PLUS loans change to 7.6% from 7%, which include an additional 4% plus origination fee.

These rate changes will take effect for loans disbursed between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019.

THERE’S ALSO A GENDER ISSUE

According to a report from the American Association of University Women, women hold nearly two-thirds of all student debt in the U.S. Part of the reason is that more women go to college. They represented 56 percent of students enrolled in the fall of 2016.

But that doesn’t explain the whole gender gap. More women attend higher cost private colleges, and as a result, take out loans. The average woman owes $2,740 more than a man upon finishing a bachelor’s degree, the report said.

A CCFS® CAN HELP!

The cost of attending college is becoming a growing burden for a large percentage of students. A Certified College Funding Specialist (CCFS®) can help ensure you do not become another statistic?