Around two in five students in any given academic year take out some form of student loans

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

How student loans became incredibly prevalent

As of 2024, the total outstanding federal student loan debt sat at $1.6T, held by almost 43 million borrowers. Explore the history of student loans and how they became prevalent in the US, as told by several influential actors in the creation of the program over the years.

Just 7% of student loan borrowers account for 40% of outstanding student loan debt

Most student loan debt went to support graduate studies. Total student loan debt in the US is more than $1.6T. Downloadable tables show the raw data behind federal student aid.

Calculate your student loan payments

As of summer 2024, interest rates on federal student loans ranged from 6.5% for undergraduates to above 9% for loans taken out by parents (private loans can exceed 17%). The interest rate determines how quickly the amount owed grows. Use this calculator to estimate your monthly payments.

The federal government uses the FAFSA to determine student's eligibility aid

Apply for billions of dollars in scholarships, grants, loans, and Federal Work-Study funds using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form. Get an overview of how the FAFSA form can help you finance your education with money from the federal government, your state, and school; understand when to apply; and find out what you'll need to fill it out.

Find out ways to get lower rates on private loans, such as applying with a cosigner

More borrowers are being pushed to opt for private student loans as changes to federal borrowing caps and repayment plans are implemented. Private lenders typically advertise interest rates that fall anywhere between sub-3% and 15% or higher.

Student debt has a widespread economic impact

Student debt is no different than the big rent or car payment that comes out of someone’s paycheck every month: Its presence affects that household’s purchasing power. Multiply that household by the 43 million Americans who had outstanding federal loan debt in September 2023, and student debt’s impact becomes considerable.

More than 3 million student loan borrowers were in default at the end of 2021

More than 3 million student loan borrowers were in default at the end of 2021. While default rates have declined since pandemic-era payment pauses, failing to pay off student debt can still have serious consequences, from a low credit score to the government withholding wages.

A study followed a cohort of Black graduates beginning in the 1995–96 school year

While access to higher education led to improved outcomes across minority groups in the US, a significant gap exists in the average amount of debt held and the time it takes to pay back loans. This study found median Black borrowers still owed 95% of the principal two decades later.

Roughly 37% of first-time US home buyers have student debt

When those people have extra money, they might wonder: Is it better to pay down my mortgage or my student loans first? This article argues that the answer depends on each loan's interest rate, among other factors.

The average cost for an in-state, public university is close to $30K per year

To cover the cost, students turn to a variety of sources. Parental contributions plus savings funds cover about half of the expenses on average, with students relying on other sources—typically federal aid, in the form of scholarships and loans—to cover the rest.

Where colleges get their money, visualized

If you're curious about how different colleges and universities generate their revenue, this National Center for Education Statistics webpage offers a clear visual breakdown. See how public, private nonprofit, and for-profit institutions fund their operations, highlighting the differences between funding sources depending on the type of institution.

College budgets, explained

In this episode of the FutureU podcast, higher education experts Jeff Selingo and Michael Horn explore why so many colleges seem to be struggling financially. Hear how college budgets actually work, and why so many are unsustainable. It’s a crash course in revenue, expenses, and the big shifts schools need to make to survive.

Is college worth it?

Higher education has long been viewed as a stepping stone to more stable and higher-paying careers. Estimates suggest a college degree nearly triples average lifetime earnings. But the perception of value is different—only 22% of Americans say college is worth taking out loans for.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is by far the most popular in the US

The most common types of loans are conventional, jumbo, fixed-rate, adjustable, and government-backed.

Graduate/professional schools often cost more to attend than undergraduate schools

Grad and professional school cost more than undergraduate schools. Individuals with advanced degrees owe many times more than graduates with bachelor’s degrees. For example, the average student debt held by a PhD was around $125K in 2023, while those with undergraduate debt averaged $37K.

How many Americans receive government assistance?

In 2022, nearly half of all American children—and roughly one in three Americans overall—were enrolled in at least one government assistance program. Those programs provide support for people who cannot afford healthcare, food, housing, or other needs. Find out more about the number of Americans receiving government assistance here.

15 states offer school voucher programs, serving nearly 350,000 students

Voucher programs direct public K–12 funding to families in the form of tuition grants for private schools and are typically targeted to low-income or special-needs students.

Play the role of a student as you try to navigate college and remain debt-free

People who take out payday loans often know they are a bad deal

Despite common criticism that payday lenders take advantage of uninformed borrowers, some people who take out payday loans know they are usually a bad deal, but often feel like they don't have any other options. Payday loans are often considered a symptom of poverty. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

There are two main types of 529 plans

One type of 529 plan, prepaid tuition plans, can only be used to pay for tuition. The other type, college savings plans, can also be used to pay for related education expenses, including room and board. One key advantage of a prepaid tuition plan is that it locks in tuition prices. Both types have limited options for non-educational uses.

Transit is funded through a three-tier system, and the federal government is the smallest piece

In 2019, the federal government covered about one-sixth of the $79B spent on public transit. States and localities make up the rest. About 85% of all transit trips are taken by bus or heavy rail, and nearly 4 in 10 US transit trips occur in the New York City metro area.

Refinancing a mortgage is when a homeowner exchanges their current loan for a new one

Homeowners typically refinance to secure a lower interest rate and potentially a new loan term length. Debt owed on mortgages made up about 70% of US consumer debt as of 2025.

Nearly half of millennials and Gen Z use BNPL, versus 21% of older generations

While applicants typically need a good credit score and credit history to qualify for many credit cards, that's not the case with buy now, pay later loans, making them more accessible forms of payment for younger generations.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

Investors can buy three main types of bonds: government, corporate, and municipal

Each type has variations of its bond offerings with different interest rates, loan lengths, maturity dates, and terms. Each type also carries its own risks and rewards.

Finance is among the most popular specializations for MBA students

MBA specializations allow students to concentrate on a specific field during their studies. Other popular concentrations include marketing, entrepreneurship, and consulting. Learn more about MBA specializations in this article.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.

Between 10 million and 50 million people in the US develop rashes from poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak each year.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.