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Student Loan Debt: How Much Do Borrowers Owe in 2025?
U.S. student loan debt totals $1.77 trillion, and the average undergraduate borrower owes $29,300. Here are the key student debt statistics to know for 2025.
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Updated · 4 min read
How is this page expert verified?
NerdWallet's content is fact-checked for accuracy, timeliness and relevance. It undergoes a thorough review process involving writers and editors to ensure the information is as clear and complete as possible.
Eliza Haverstock is NerdWallet's higher education writer, where she covers all aspects of college affordability and student loans. Previously, she reported on billionaires and investing for Forbes in New York, and she also covered private markets for PitchBook in Seattle. Eliza got started at her college newspaper at the University of Virginia and interned for Bloomberg, where she spent a summer writing a feature story about plastic straws. She is based in Washington, D.C.
Kim Lowe is Head of Content for NerdWallet's Personal and Student Loans team. She joined NerdWallet in 2016 after 15 years at MSN.com, where she held various content roles including editor-in-chief of the health and food sections. Kim started her career as a writer for print and web publications that covered the mortgage, supermarket and restaurant industries. Kim earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington. She works from her home near Portland, Oregon.
Anna Helhoski is a senior writer covering economic news and trends in consumer finance at NerdWallet. She is an on-air contributor and producer of Money News segments for NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast. She is also an authority on student loans. She joined NerdWallet in 2014. Her work has been syndicated in news outlets nationwide including The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and USA Today. She previously covered local news in the New York metro area for the Daily Voice and New York state politics for The Legislative Gazette. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Purchase College, State University of New York.
U.S. student loan borrowers collectively owe $1.77 trillion in federal and private student loan debt in 2025, according to the most recent quarterly tally by the Federal Reserve. The average borrower with undergraduate student debt owes $29,300, per College Board.
Here are the key 2025 student loan debt statistics to know, including how much borrowers owe, the types of loans they have and how they're repaying them.
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Some borrowers say they regret borrowing for college. While 57% of Americans think four-year college is worth the cost, 30% of those who took out student loan debt for themselves don’t think that their college education was worth the debt, according to a June 2024 NerdWallet study.
Here's the average student debt per borrower with outstanding loans, by degree type:
1. 2024 College Board.
2. 2019-20 National Center for Education Statistics.
3. Q4 2024 Federal Student Aid Portfolio.
4. 2019-20 National Center for Education Statistics.
5. 2019-20 National Center for Education Statistics.
6. 2024 Association of American Medical Colleges.
7. 2023 American Dental Education Association.
8. 2024 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
9. 2017 American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
10. 2024 American Veterinary Medical Association.
Among student borrowers, women take out an average of $31,276, while men borrow an average of $29,270, according to a 2021 data analysis by the American Association of University Women.
Black women owe a disproportionate amount of student debt. They hold 43% more undergraduate debt and nearly 99% more graduate school debt than their white woman counterparts 12 months after graduation, according to an April 2022 study by the nonprofit organization The Education Trust.
Total federal student loan debt
Most student loans — about 92.4% — are owned by the government.
Total federal student loan borrowers: 42.7 million.
Total outstanding federal student loan debt: $1.64 trillion.
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A 2024 high school graduate could expect to borrow $36,700 for their bachelor’s degree, according to an April 2023 NerdWallet analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data that assumes a five-year undergraduate career.
This estimate dipped slightly from 2023, when high school graduates were poised to borrow up to $37,300 in student loan debt.
Student loan repayment data: How many borrowers are making payments?
Federal student loan repayment
If borrowers can't make payments, they can postpone them through deferment or forbearance.
Federal loan borrowers in school: 6.1 million.
Federal borrowers in grace period: 1.6 million.
Federal loan borrowers in repayment: 18.7 million.
Federal loan borrowers in deferment: 3.2 million.
Federal loan borrowers with loans in forbearance: 9 million.
Borrowers can also postpone private student loan payments via deferment or forbearance, but unlike federal loans, interest always accrues during these periods. Default terms vary by lender, but it may occur as soon as 90 days after nonpayment.
Percentage of private loans in repayment: 75.91%.
Percentage of private loans in in-school deferment: 19.33%.
Percentage of private loans in forbearance: 1.86%.
Percentage of private loans in grace period: 2.91%.
These figures include automatic IDR account adjustment forgiveness, a program that attempted to rectify past issues in IDR management. As of 2021, only about 157 borrowers had ever received IDR loan forgiveness because the Education Department and servicers had mismanaged the program, the Government Accountability Office found.
Student loan default happens after a period of missed payments. Most federal student loans enter default after roughly 270 days (or nine months) past due. Private student loans typically enter default after three missed payments (typically three months), but it can happen as soon as after one missed payment.
Income-driven repayment plans: How many borrowers are enrolled?
IDR plans cap monthly payments at 10% to 20% of a borrower’s discretionary income and forgive any balance remaining after 20 or 25 years, depending on the plan and loan type. Only federal student loan borrowers are eligible for these repayment plans.
As of the summer of 2024, lawsuits have blocked the newest IDR plan, Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE). Borrowers enrolled in SAVE were placed in an indefinite interest-free forbearance. They don’t owe any payments during this time.
Students and their families must submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to be eligible for grants, scholarships, work-study and federal student loans. High school graduates who complete the FAFSA are 84% more likely to immediately enroll in postsecondary education.
Percentage of 2022 high school graduates who completed the FAFSA: 56%.
Percentage of 2022 high school graduates who did not complete the FAFSA: 44%.
Average Pell Grant amount award for eligible class of 2022 graduates: $4,686.
Total amount of Pell Grant money the class of 2022 left on the table by not completing the FAFSA: $3.58 billion.
