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Student Loans

The following table shows the percentage of students borrowing and average cumulative debt per borrower (excluding PLUS Loans) according to type of educational institution.

	Undergraduate Education Debt
Institution Level & Control	Percent Borrowing	Cumulative Debt
Overall Total (4, 2 and < 2 year)	55.5%	$15,766
4-year Total	65.6%	$19,202
4-year Public	61.7%	$17,277
4-year Private Non-Profit	72.8%	$21,957
4-year Private For-Profit	87.3%	$28,138
2-year Total	37.4%	$9,897
2-year Public	33.2%	$9,387
2-year Private Non-Profit	69.1%	$12,326
2-year Private For-Profit	90.0%	$12,107
< 2-year Total	67.1%	$7,271
< 2-year Public	34.0%	$7,243
< 2-year Private Non-Profit	26.5%	$4,854
< 2-year Private For-Profit	77.3%	$7,311

	Graduate Education Debt		All Education Debt (Grad & Undergrad)
Graduate & Professional Degree Programs	Percent Borrowing	Cumulative Debt	Percent Borrowing	Cumulative Debt
Total	60.1%	$37,067	70.1%	$42,406
Master's Degree	58.4%	$26,895	69.3%	$32,858
Doctoral Degree	51.0%	$49,007	58.3%	$53,405
Professional Degree	86.5%	$82,688	88.4%	$93,134
MBA	53.0%	$35,525	63.6%	$41,687
MSW	76.5%	$27,136	81.0%	$37,029
PhD	40.0%	$36,917	46.8%	$41,540
EdD	53.4%	$49,050	65.7%	$47,725
Law (LLB or JD)	87.7%	$70,933	89.7%	$80,754
Medicine	95.0%	$113,661	95.0%	$125,819

Federal law sets the maximum interest rates and fees that lenders may charge for federally-guaranteed loans. Nothing prevents a lender from charging lower fees. Many lenders offer a variety of student loan discounts to attract borrowers.

Few students can afford to pay for college without some form of education financing. Two-thirds (65.7%) of 4-year undergraduate students graduate with some debt, and the average student loan debt among graduating seniors is $19,237 (excluding PLUS Loans but including Stafford, Perkins, state, college and private loans), according to the 2003-2004 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) . (The median is $17,120. One quarter of undergraduate students borrow $24,936 or more, and one tenth borrow $35,213 or more.) For federal student loan debt (excluding PLUS Loans), the figures are 62.2% and $17,036. Average cumulative debt increases by about 3% or approximately $550 a year. When one includes PLUS loans in the total, the average cumulative debt incurred is $21,899. (Approximately one in ten (10.8%) parents borrow PLUS loans for their children's college education, with a cumulative PLUS loan debt of $16,317.)

Graduate and professional students borrow even more, with the additional debt for a graduate degree ranging from $27,000 to $114,000. The following table shows the percentage borrowing and average amount of cumulative debt per borrower among graduating students according to degree program. It provides the amounts borrowed for just the graduate education and also the combined totals for undergraduate and graduate education.