45 million US students now owe $1.68 trillion in student loan debt, 10% of all household debt

Data gathered by Learnbonds.com indicates that about 45.5 million American students owe at least $1.68 trillion in student loan debt. According to the data, the current loan debt is the highest ever.

Student loan debts account for at least 10% of the US household debt

The data shows that by the fourth quarter of last year, student loan debt accounted for at least 10% of the entire US household debt. The data further shows that about 800,000 loan beneficiaries have outstanding debt amounting to at least $200,000.

The loan bracket of $25,000 – $50,000 has the highest number of indebted students at 9.5 million. The bracket of $10,000 – $25,000 has the second-highest number of beneficiaries at 9.2 million students.

The data also overviewed the average student loan debt of students at the top 20 US universities in 2020. Students at Princeton University which is ranked the top in the country have the least loan debt average at $9,059. On the other hand, students at Northwestern University, ranked ninth have the highest student loan debt average at $32,395.

US students are beneficiaries of loans from different sources including the Federal student loans kitty, private student loans, Federal pell grants, and Federal work-study and FSEOG loans. Out of these sources, federal loans account for at least 25% of all the student loans.

Over the last decade, a majority of students benefited from federal loans during the 2019/20 academic year when it accounted for 35%. During the period under review, the least number of student loans issued by the federal government was during the 2015/16 academic year at 25%.

The data also looked at the average student loan per capita in the United State. As of 2019, the national average student loan per capita was $5,390. District Columbia has the highest average at $13,320 while Wyoming has the lowest average at $3,610.

The full report and statistics available here