2023 Student Loan Debt Statistics
Americans owe more than $1.76 trillion in student loan debt, though the Biden administration is trying to forgive about $500 billion of that total.
Meanwhile, 54% of bachelor’s degree recipients among the class of 2021 took out student loans, graduating with an average of $29,100 in federal and private debt.
These are just some of the latest student loan debt statistics as Americans continue to be burdened — even if government-held federal student loan payments have been paused since March 2020. (Private loan borrowers have had to continue payments throughout this period.)
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Key student loan debt statistics
The most recently available highlights from the student loan landscape include:
- Americans own more than $1.76 trillion in federal and private student loan debt as of the third quarter of 2022. That’s up from more than $1.74 trillion in the second quarter of 2022, according to the Federal Reserve, and nearly $1.74 trillion in the third quarter of 2021. About $131.1 billion of this is private student loan debt, according to MeasureOne data through June 2021.
- Students and parents borrowed an estimated $94.7 billion in the 2021-2022 academic year. According to CollegeBoard, 46% of this was federal unsubsidized loans, 16% was federal subsidized loans, 13% was Grad PLUS loans, 13% was private or other nonfederal loans and 11% was Parent PLUS loans.
- 54% of the class of 2021 bachelor’s degree recipients graduating from four-year public and private nonprofit colleges had student loan debt. They left school with an average of $29,100 in federal and private student loan debt, according to CollegeBoard. Those who graduated from private nonprofits had $33,000 in debt, while those from public colleges had $27,400 in debt. Private school graduates were slightly more likely to leave school with debt than public school graduates — 55% versus 53%.
- 45.3 million borrowers have federal student debt as of the second quarter of fiscal year 2022. That’s down slightly from 45.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2021, according to CollegeBoard. (It’s harder to nail down fresh data on the number of borrowers with private student loans.)
- 3.99% of student loans were 90 days or more delinquent as of the third quarter of 2022. That’s down from 4.55% last quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and significantly from 10.75% in the first quarter of 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The pause on government-held federal student loan payments has been extended eight times since March 2020. It’s now set to end once a resolution is reached on student loan forgiveness. If not, payments will restart 60 days after June 30, 2023.
Historic look at federal and private student loan debt (in millions)
| Quarter | Total debt (in millions) |
|---|---|
| Q1 2006 | $480,967 |
| Q2 2006 | $487,126 |
| Q3 2006 | $510,548 |
| Q4 2006 | $521,382 |
| Q1 2007 | $544,989 |
| Q2 2007 | $549,271 |
| Q3 2007 | $577,381 |
| Q4 2007 | $589,489 |
| Q1 2008 | $619,316 |
| Q2 2008 | $626,606 |
| Q3 2008 | $660,584 |
| Q4 2008 | $675,953 |
| Q1 2009 | $707,227 |
| Q2 2009 | $712,319 |
| Q3 2009 | $746,523 |
| Q4 2009 | $771,700 |
| Q1 2010 | $800,070 |
| Q2 2010 | $811,149 |
| Q3 2010 | $845,805 |
| Q4 2010 | $855,483 |
| Q1 2011 | $896,848 |
| Q2 2011 | $905,157 |
| Q3 2011 | $940,339 |
| Q4 2011 | $959,824 |
| Q1 2012 | $994,280 |
| Q2 2012 | $1,011,260 |
| Q3 2012 | $1,041,034 |
| Q4 2012 | $1,054,565 |
| Q1 2013 | $1,092,014 |
| Q2 2013 | $1,099,607 |
| Q3 2013 | $1,134,181 |
| Q4 2013 | $1,145,551 |
| Q1 2014 | $1,182,061 |
| Q2 2014 | $1,190,489 |
| Q3 2014 | $1,226,394 |
| Q4 2014 | $1,235,751 |
| Q1 2015 | $1,271,845 |
| Q2 2015 | $1,278,765 |
| Q3 2015 | $1,311,766 |
| Q4 2015 | $1,320,248 |
| Q1 2016 | $1,358,137 |
| Q2 2016 | $1,365,270 |
| Q3 2016 | $1,398,573 |
| Q4 2016 | $1,405,332 |
| Q1 2017 | $1,440,359 |
| Q2 2017 | $1,446,680 |
| Q3 2017 | $1,479,030 |
| Q4 2017 | $1,488,895 |
| Q1 2018 | $1,523,344 |
| Q2 2018 | $1,530,757 |
| Q3 2018 | $1,560,682 |
| Q4 2018 | $1,566,903 |
| Q1 2019 | $1,597,654 |
| Q2 2019 | $1,603,293 |
| Q3 2019 | $1,635,132 |
| Q4 2019 | $1,637,881 |
| Q1 2020 | $1,671,969 |
| Q2 2020 | $1,672,503 |
| Q3 2020 | $1,696,475 |
| Q4 2020 | $1,693,860 |
| Q1 2021 | $1,718,707 |
| Q2 2021 | $1,719,068 |
| Q3 2021 | $1,739,444 |
| Q4 2021 | $1,733,415 |
| Q1 2022 | $1,747,456 |
| Q2 2022 | $1,744,007 |
| Q3 2022 | $1,761,742 |
Source: Federal Reserve
Federal student loan portfolio
Federal Student Aid — part of the U.S. Department of Education — data allows us to dive into how much federal student loan debt borrowers carry by loan type, repayment plan and more. The following data — except for the servicer information, which is as of September 2022 — is from the fourth quarter of 2022.
Federal student loan debt statistics by loan program
| Direct loans | $1,422.8 billion | 37.8 million borrowers |
| FFEL loans | $207.8 billion | 9.2 million borrowers |
| Perkins loans | $3.9 billion | 1.3 million borrowers |
| Total (all federal) | $1,634.5 billion | 43.5 million unduplicated borrowers |
Federal student loan debt statistics by loan debt
| Stafford subsidized | $294.3 billion | 30.2 million borrowers |
| Stafford unsubsidized | $579.3 billion | 30.5 million borrowers |
| Stafford combined | $873.6 billion | 34.6 million unique recipients |
| Grad PLUS | $97.9 billion | 1.7 million borrowers |
| Parent PLUS | $108.5 billion | 3.7 million borrowers |
| Perkins | $3.9 billion | 1.3 million borrowers |
| Consolidation | $550.6 billion | 10.9 million borrowers |
Federal student loan debt statistics by loan status (direct loan program)
| Loans in repayment | $11.8 billion | 0.4 million borrowers |
| Loans in deferment | $109.5 billion | 3.0 million borrowers |
| Loans in forbearance | $1,039.6 billion | 25.6 million borrowers |
| Loans in default | $105.2 billion | 4.8 million borrowers |
| Loans in grace period | $34.1 billion | 1.3 million borrowers |
Federal student loan debt statistics by repayment plan (direct loan program)
| Level repayment plan (10 years or less) | $208.0 billion | 10.7 million borrowers |
| Level repayment plan (greater than 10 years) | $75.0 billion | 1.8 million borrowers |
| Graduated repayment plan (10 years or less) | $86.7 billion | 3.0 million borrowers |
| Graduated repayment plan (greater than 10 years) | $16.3 billion | 0.3 million borrowers |
| Income-contingent (ICR) | $38.7 billion | 0.8 million borrowers |
| Income-based (IBR) | $167.7 billion | 2.7 million borrowers |
| Pay As You Earn (PAYE) | $113.2 billion | 1.5 million borrowers |
| Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) | $201.3 billion | 3.4 million borrowers |
| Alternative | $45.8 billion | 1.3 million borrowers |
Federal student loan debt by servicer
| Repayment | Deferment | Forbearance | In-school | Grace | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outstanding (billions) | Recipients (millions) | Outstanding (billions) | Recipients (millions) | Outstanding (billions) | Recipients (millions) | Outstanding (billions) | Recipients (millions) | Outstanding (billions) | Recipients (millions) | ||||||
| PHEAA | $0.1 | 0.00 | $0.1 | 0.00 | $2.4 | 0.03 | $0.2 | 0.03 | $0.0 | 0.00 | |||||
| Great Lakes | $1.5 | 0.03 | $18.6 | 0.56 | $180.9 | 5.22 | $19.1 | 1.05 | $4.6 | 0.19 | |||||
| Nelnet | $1.5 | 0.05 | $30.0 | 0.75 | $285.5 | 7.29 | $26.2 | 1.37 | $8.5 | 0.28 | |||||
| Aidvantage | $4.0 | 0.16 | $23.3 | 0.61 | $267.4 | 6.57 | $15.5 | 0.82 | $5.0 | 0.17 | |||||
| Nonprofit servicers | $5.0 | 0.13 | $39.3 | 1.18 | $340.1 | 8.41 | $55.0 | 3.20 | 16.0 | 0.67 | |||||
Federal and private student loan debt by state
If you’ve asked “But what about in my state?”, we have that data, too.
Here’s the latest from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Equifax, as of the fourth quarter of 2021 (the latest available):
Average federal and private student loan debt by state
| Rank | State | Average balance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | $53,769 |
| 2 | Maryland | $42,543 |
| 3 | Georgia | $41,826 |
| 4 | Delaware | $39,238 |
| 5 | Virginia | $39,001 |
| 6 | New York | $38,668 |
| 7 | Florida | $38,653 |
| 8 | Oregon | $38,248 |
| 9 | Illinois | $37,869 |
| 10 | California | $37,783 |
| 11 | Alabama | $37,730 |
| 12 | North Carolina | $37,511 |
| 13 | Colorado | $37,235 |
| 14 | New Jersey | $37,003 |
| 15 | South Carolina | $36,698 |
| 16 | Arizona | $36,682 |
| 17 | Connecticut | $36,391 |
| 18 | Mississippi | $36,366 |
| 19 | Michigan | $36,221 |
| 20 | Tennessee | $36,155 |
| 21 | Ohio | $35,806 |
| 22 | Nevada | $35,688 |
| 23 | Massachusetts | $35,400 |
| 24 | Pennsylvania | $35,349 |
| 25 | Missouri | $35,095 |
| 26 | Washington | $34,846 |
| 27 | Louisiana | $34,839 |
| 28 | Hawaii | $34,608 |
| 29 | Vermont | $34,595 |
| 30 | Idaho | $34,196 |
| 31 | Kansas | $33,954 |
| 32 | Rhode Island | $33,838 |
| 33 | Maine | $33,584 |
| 34 | Utah | $33,474 |
| 35 | Minnesota | $33,161 |
| 36 | Kentucky | $33,155 |
| 37 | New Hampshire | $33,094 |
| 38 | Texas | $32,998 |
| 39 | New Mexico | $32,944 |
| 40 | Montana | $32,459 |
| 41 | West Virginia | $32,214 |
| 42 | Oklahoma | $32,102 |
| 43 | Indiana | $32,045 |
| 44 | Arkansas | $31,851 |
| 45 | Nebraska | $31,551 |
| 46 | Wisconsin | $31,482 |
| 47 | Wyoming | $30,581 |
| 48 | North Dakota | $30,542 |
| 49 | Alaska | $30,427 |
| 50 | Iowa | $29,845 |
| 51 | South Dakota | $28,218 |
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax
Private student loan debt statistics
While certain sources track federal and private student loan data together, some gather based on private loans alone. Here’s a closer look at some stats in that realm:
- Americans owe more than $136.3 billion to private student lenders as of March 2021, the latest available data from the Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS).
- Private student loan debt volume hit an estimated $12.7 billion in the 2021-2022 academic year, according to CollegeBoard.
- 92% of undergraduate and 66% of graduate private loans were cosigned by someone else during the 2021-2022 academic year, according to MeasureOne.
- As of the end of the third quarter of 2021, 74% of private loans were in repayment, according to MeasureOne. Another 17% were in deferment, 6% were in a grace period and 2% were in forbearance.
- Undergraduate loans account for 88.7% of the total outstanding balance of private loans, while graduate loans account for 11.3% as of the third quarter of 2021, according to MeasureOne.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness statistics
Lastly: LendingTree has an in-depth student loan forgiveness statistics roundup that looks at various types of programs, but we thought we’d provide a separate breakdown of the latest on the most impactful program — Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
The Federal Student Aid data here is through October 2022 — the latest available — and looks at the PSLF programs as a whole, including PSLF, Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) and limited waiver:
- PSLF borrowers with one or more approved PSLF employment certification forms and a positive loan balance: 1,552,546
- Borrowers who submitted forgiveness applications: 1,820,509 (versus 1,046,449 through May 2022)
- Unique borrowers granted PSLF (PSLF, TEPSLF and waiver): 233,320 (versus 146,316 through May 2022)
- Average balance forgiven (PSLF, TEPSLF and waiver): $63,826 (versus $64,968 through May 2022)
Sources
- Federal Reserve
- Brookings Institution
- CollegeBoard
- Federal Student Aid
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS)
- MeasureOne