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Almost 60% of U.S. undergraduate students take out either federal or private loans and there are 5x as many undergraduate students as graduate students in the U

Almost 60% of U.S. undergraduate students take out either federal or private loans and there are 5x as many undergraduate students as graduate students in the U.S. For those downvoting: 54% of US graduate students take out student loans, while around 55% of US undergraduate students take out loans. The average undergraduate student loan debt is around $29000, while the average debt for graduate school borrowers is $71000. Given that there are five times as many undergraduate students as graduate students and given that a greater number of undergraduate students take out loans, the average graduate school debt would have to be nearly $150k to be greater than the undergraduate debt. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/average-student-loan-debt-graduate-school?msockid=2375d0d1d7b4611437bbc2a0d69160d1 https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/avera... https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/average-student-loan-debt-statistics/ https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/average-student... https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/money/average-student-loan-debt https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/money/average-student-lo... https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/average-student-loan-debt-graduate-school?msockid=2375d0d1d7b4611437bbc2a0d69160d1 https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/avera...

lapcat 2y ago
I think the OP is referring to the number of dollars rather than the number of students.
- TeaBrain 2y ago
  Of course it was based on the number of dollars, but based on which figures? It was an assertion conjured out of thin air. If there are five times as many undergrad students as grad students and a similar percentage of grad students had to take out student loans, then this would mean that students are incurring on average five times more debt for graduate school. This is without taking into consideration that a far higher percentage of US graduate students are international students.
  - lapcat 2y ago
    It looks like graduate debt was approaching the majority and could in fact be a majority in 2024: "If these trends continue, graduate loan disbursements may exceed undergraduate disbursements in the next few years." https://sites.ed.gov/ous/files/2023/08/OCE_GraduateDebtReport202308.pdf https://sites.ed.gov/ous/files/2023/08/OCE_GraduateDebtRepor...
    - TeaBrain 2y ago
      You're conflating current disbursements with the outstanding debt, which is what the original assertion was on. Either way it is looked at though, their assertion is wrong.
      - lapcat 2y ago
        > You're conflating current disbursements with the outstanding debt No, I was just googling for stats, and that's what I was able to find. Here's something else though: "46% of federal student loan debt belonged to graduate student borrowers in 2017." https://educationdata.org/average-graduate-student-loan-debt https://educationdata.org/average-graduate-student-loan-debt
seanmcdirmid 2y ago
> while the average debt for graduate school borrowers is $71000. That figure would be heavily skewed by medical school students.

lapcat 2y ago

I think the OP is referring to the number of dollars rather than the number of students.

TeaBrain 2y ago
Of course it was based on the number of dollars, but based on which figures? It was an assertion conjured out of thin air. If there are five times as many undergrad students as grad students and a similar percentage of grad students had to take out student loans, then this would mean that students are incurring on average five times more debt for graduate school. This is without taking into consideration that a far higher percentage of US graduate students are international students.
- lapcat 2y ago
  It looks like graduate debt was approaching the majority and could in fact be a majority in 2024: "If these trends continue, graduate loan disbursements may exceed undergraduate disbursements in the next few years." https://sites.ed.gov/ous/files/2023/08/OCE_GraduateDebtReport202308.pdf https://sites.ed.gov/ous/files/2023/08/OCE_GraduateDebtRepor...
  - TeaBrain 2y ago
    You're conflating current disbursements with the outstanding debt, which is what the original assertion was on. Either way it is looked at though, their assertion is wrong.
    - lapcat 2y ago
      > You're conflating current disbursements with the outstanding debt No, I was just googling for stats, and that's what I was able to find. Here's something else though: "46% of federal student loan debt belonged to graduate student borrowers in 2017." https://educationdata.org/average-graduate-student-loan-debt https://educationdata.org/average-graduate-student-loan-debt

seanmcdirmid 2y ago

> while the average debt for graduate school borrowers is $71000. That figure would be heavily skewed by medical school students.