Student Loans

In 2012, a record 69% of the nation's new college graduates had taken out student loans to finance their education. Graduates from more affluent families are much more likely to borrow today than 20 years ago.

College graduates report about the same amount of personal satisfaction and economic well-being later in life whether they attended a private or public college.

More people are having trouble keeping up with their student-loan payments than in years past, several studies show.

A record 37% of young households had outstanding student loans in 2010 and a median student debt of $13,000.

Student debt burdens are weighing on the economic fortunes of today’s young adults. Among the college-educated, those with outstanding student debt are lagging far behind those who are debt free in terms of household wealth.

Outstanding household debt increased $241 billion during last October-December, the biggest quarterly jump since 2007.

U.S. families are relying less on their own resources and more on outside sources (scholarships, loans and the like) to pay for college.

About one out of five of the nation’s households owed student debt in 2010, more than double the share two decades earlier.

College is a pretty pricey proposition, even after grants and scholarships are factored in. And the millions of students graduating this spring will soon learn just how expensive their degrees were when they start getting student-loan bills. As a Pew Research Center analysis noted last year, nearly one in five U.S. households (19%) owed money […]

Take a look at Pew Research Center’s top findings of the year that told us a bigger story about the trends shaping our world.