The term “student loan debt” and how news reports about debt are illustrated, has you picturing a young 20-something overburdened by debt. But that is not who has the largest debt – in fact, the majority of debt is held by those over age 35:
2024 Student Loan Debt Statistics: Average Student Loan Debt – Forbes Advisor
It is estimated that about half of all student loan debt is held by the 25% who attended graduate school – often pursuing degrees in high income subject areas like law, business and medicine: Graduate students owe around 50% of all student debt
The average amount of student debt for a person with a bachelor’s degree is $28,950. But it is $66,300 for an MBA, $71,000 for a master’s degree, $145,500 for a law degree and $201,490 for a medical degree.
Furthermore, the number of people earning graduate degrees has exploded:
Census data indicates that between 2000 and 2018, the number of people aged 25 and over who earned master’s and doctoral graduate degrees doubled. In 2000, 8.6% of U.S. adults had an advanced degree — that figure is now closer to 13.1%.
Also, notes the article, undergraduate Federal loans have a maximum cap but graduate loans do not.
It would be more accurate to use the term “Education loans” rather than “student loans”. We don’t label “auto loans” as “driver loans”!
