Student loan debt in the United States has hit a new all-time high, a new analysis says.
According to a report from Bloomberg, outstanding student debt has now reached $1.465 trillion, more than double what it was during the great recession nearly a decade ago. The outstanding debt was $675 billion in June 2009 during the Obama presidency. (RELATED: Survey: Majority Of Student Loan Borrowers Have Less Than $1,000 In Bank)
According to Bloomberg’s analysis, students who took out loans in 2012 ran into the most trouble; loans taken out that year have spiked to the second-highest default rate on record and the highest of any rate since the recession.
Students pull a mock “ball & chain” representing the $1.4 trilling outstanding student debt at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where second presidential debate will be held between Republican nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic counterpart Hillary Clinton / AFP / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
According to Bloomberg, borrowers between the ages of 25–34 owed $489 billion in loan debt as of the third quarter, while borrowers between the ages of 35–49 owed $530 billion.
But, as Bloomberg’s study found, it’s not just young people still straddled with debt. Borrowers between the ages of 50–61 owe $213.6 billion, according to data Bloomberg cited from the Department of Education, while those over the age of 62 owed $62.5 billion.
Bloomberg also found that the amount owed by borrowers over the age of 50 increased by $28.8 billion, which is an 11.6 percent over the past year.