The monster of student debt.

[The Sage of Main Street]

The rich kids aren't the problem. Women and minorities are.

A Demographic Look at Who Has Student Loan Debt

LendingTree researchers looked at who has student loan debt and which demographics are most impacted.

www.lendingtree.com

Wild Goosestep Chase

The RichKids turned loose the ferals and Femininnies on us, just so you'd blame their decoys instead of the Preppy Puppetmasters. QED.

 

[Dekster]

Student debt is huge, but how big a part of private debt is it. The figure is staggering.

One-third of unsecured private debt in the U.S. is student debt.

Overall private debt: $18Trillion.
Debt secured/collateralized: $12.6Trillion.'
Unsecured debt: $5.4Trillion.
Student debt: $1.7Trillion.
Percent of student debt to unsecured debt: 31.3 percent.

Total household debt by type

A column chart showing household debt by type.

www.fool.com

2025 Student Loan Debt Statistics: Average Student Loan Debt

The cost of college has steadily increased over the last 30 years. In that timeframe, tuition costs at public four-year colleges grew from $4,160 to $10,740 and from $19,360 to $38,070 at private nonprofit institutions (adjusted for inflation). As costs have risen, so has the need for student loans

www.forbes.com

A big chunk of that debt appears to be because servicers in the past were putting people into deferments instead of setting their payments to zero and capitalizing interest like mad so their balances swelled.

Anyway, the new GOP proposal isn't horrible. Either pay off in 15 years under standard repayment or pay based on your income between 1% to 10% until discharged. Borrowers before next year can still stay on the current options that survived the courts.