The exact amount of student loan debt differs from one person to the next, of course, depending on the specifics of their degree and how many loans they actually took out. That said, there is a total of $1.773 trillion of student debt in the United States, spread out among nearly 43 million borrowers. So you can run the numbers and look at the average level of debt that people are facing.
When you do this, you will find that the average debt on a federal student loan is $38,375. This only accounts for federal loans. If you also include private loans, then the average debt jumps to $41,520.
Of course, this is just an average. There are some students who had close to enough money through scholarships or savings, so they may only have taken out small loans for a few thousand dollars. There are also students with over $100,000 of debt, sometimes having obtained advanced degrees. But on average, most people owe around $40,000.
How this affects other debt
This significant amount of debt can have a major impact on someone’s finances and their other levels of debt. Someone who is paying off $40,000 in student loans may find it difficult to make car payments or mortgage payments, for example. If they struggle to make ends meet because of their student loan debt, they may start charging more things on credit cards, which can cause their total debt load to increase.
In some cases, people find themselves looking at an overwhelming level of debt coming from a number of different sources, and they are not sure how to proceed. If you are in this position, be sure that you understand all of your legal options, including potentially filing for bankruptcy.
