---
title: "Cumulative Student Debt Among Recent College Graduates"
description: "This analysis focuses on three classes of newly minted college graduates, that is, undergraduates who had recently completed a bachelor’s degree: the class of 1992-93, 1999-00, and 2011-12. The analysis is restricted to those receiving bachelor’s degrees in order to concentrate on the group of undergraduates that public discussions typically emphasize.[4. numoffset=”4″ Izzo (2014) is […]"
date: "2014-10-07"
authors:
  - name: "Richard Fry"
    job_title: "Senior Researcher"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/richard-fry/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2014/10/07/cumulative-student-debt-among-recent-college-graduates/"
---

# Cumulative Student Debt Among Recent College Graduates

[![The Share of College Graduates Borrowing Has Sharply Increased](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/10/ST-2014-10-07-student-debtors-04.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2014/10/07/the-changing-profile-of-student-borrowers/st-2014-10-07-student-debtors-04/)

This analysis focuses on three classes of newly minted college graduates, that is, undergraduates who had recently completed a bachelor’s degree: the class of 1992-93, 1999-00, and 2011-12. The analysis is restricted to those receiving bachelor’s degrees in order to concentrate on the group of undergraduates that public discussions typically emphasize.[4. numoffset="4" Izzo (2014) is representative of press coverage focusing on baccalaureates.]

Among college students who graduated in 2011-12, fully seven-in-ten (69%) borrowed money to finance their education. This represents a sharp increase from 20 years earlier when roughly half (49%) of graduates left school with some student debt.

Not only are more students borrowing these days, but those who do take out loans are graduating with a much larger debt. Among 2011-12 graduates who took out student loans, the typical amount borrowed was $26,885. This is the median, meaning that half the borrowers had accumulated less than $26,885 in education debt and half had accumulated at least $26,885. The typical amount of student debt incurred by borrowers in the class of 1992-93 was $12,434, or less than half of the most recent level.[5. Both the incidence and average amounts of student debt vary by whether the graduate’s college is public, private non-profit or private for-profit (Miller, 2014).]

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**Next:** [Who’s Borrowing?](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2014/10/07/whos-borrowing.md)