{"id":40152,"date":"2014-10-07T10:56:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T15:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2014\/10\/07\/cumulative-student-debt-among-recent-college-graduates\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:18:13","slug":"cumulative-student-debt-among-recent-college-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2014\/10\/07\/cumulative-student-debt-among-recent-college-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"Cumulative Student Debt Among Recent College Graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2014\/10\/07\/the-changing-profile-of-student-borrowers\/st-2014-10-07-student-debtors-04\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-19904\"><img data-dominant-color=\"f2f2f2\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f2f2f2;\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"(max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\" class=\"wp-image-19904 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2014\/10\/ST-2014-10-07-student-debtors-04.png\" alt=\"The Share of College Graduates Borrowing Has Sharply Increased\"><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This analysis focuses on three classes of newly minted college graduates, that is, undergraduates who had recently completed a bachelor\u2019s degree: the class of 1992-93, 1999-00, and 2011-12. The analysis is restricted to those receiving bachelor\u2019s degrees in order to concentrate on the group of undergraduates that public discussions typically emphasize.[4. numoffset=&#8221;4&#8243; Izzo (2014) is representative of press coverage focusing on baccalaureates.]<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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\u2019s college is public, private non-profit or private for-profit (Miller, 2014).]<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This analysis focuses on three classes of newly minted college graduates, that is, undergraduates who had recently completed a bachelor\u2019s degree: the class of 1992-93, 1999-00, and 2011-12. The analysis is restricted to those receiving bachelor\u2019s degrees in order to concentrate on the group of undergraduates that public discussions typically emphasize.[4. numoffset=&#8221;4&#8243; Izzo (2014) is 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Changing Profile of Student Borrowers","slug":"the-changing-profile-of-student-borrowers","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2014\/10\/07\/the-changing-profile-of-student-borrowers\/","is_active":false},{"id":40138,"title":"The Growth in Student Debt","slug":"the-growth-in-student-debt","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2014\/10\/07\/the-growth-in-student-debt\/","is_active":false},{"id":40152,"title":"Cumulative Student Debt Among Recent College Graduates","slug":"cumulative-student-debt-among-recent-college-graduates","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2014\/10\/07\/cumulative-student-debt-among-recent-college-graduates\/","is_active":true},{"id":40165,"title":"Who\u2019s Borrowing?","slug":"whos-borrowing","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2014\/10\/07\/whos-borrowing\/","is_active":false},{"id":40182,"title":"Trends in Amounts 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