The numbers are staggering-and still on the rise
As noted above, a federal emergency relief measure suspended student loan repayments from , and the deadline has now been moved to . Collections on payments that are in default also were halted. This is a suspension of repayment, not a cancellation or even a reduction of the debt.
The Bottom Line
Most students who attend college are hoping to earn a degree that will dramatically increase their earning power after graduation. Still, for many adults, much of those earnings will have to go toward paying back student loans. This is a heavy burden to carry, especially before someone has earned their first professional paycheck.
Nearly one-third of all American students now have to go into debt to get through college, and the average student loan debt reached a record high of $38,792 in 2020. Collectively, they owe about $1.58 trillion as of , according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
As any recent college student-or parent of a student-knows, obtaining a degree requires a much bigger financial sacrifice today than it did a generation or two ago. Over the past three decades, the average cost to attend a public four-year institution is more than three times the cost to attend a public four-year institution, and it more than doubled at both private and public four-year schools, according to the College Board. Continue Reading
