U.S. Student Loan Debt Hit Record $1.5 Trillion, Doubling Since The Recession

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If you find yourself balls deep in student loan debt, take comfort in the fact that you are far from alone.

A new report from Bloomberg found that U.S. student loan debt outstanding reached a record $1.465 trillion last month, more than double the $675 billion outstanding in June 2009 when the recession ended.

The group of students that took out loans in 2012 are by far the worst off. Student loans for that group of young adults have defaulted at a faster rate than any other loans disbursed since the financial crisis, indicating that students who took out loans in 2012 are having a bitch of a time making their monthly payments.

The 2012 group aren’t the only ones who are struggling, as over 2.7 million borrowers owe in excess of $100,000, 700,000 of those owe more than $200,000 in debt. Yes, you read that correctly. The breakdown by age is unsettling:

Borrowers in the 25-34 age group owed $489 billion as of the third quarter, slightly less than $530 billion balance for 35 to 49-year-olds.

At the end of September, 1.8 million borrowers age 62 and older owed $62.5 billion in federal student loan debt and those in the 50-61 age group owe $213.6 billion, according to data from the Department of Education. In just one year, the aggregate amount owned by borrowers over the age of 50 increased by $28.8 billion or 11.6 percent.

The good news (for very few): The U.S. Department of Education, led by Betsy DeVos, announced that it will cancel $150 million of student loans that impacts approximately 15,000 federal student loan borrowers. In order to qualify, the borrowers must have attended a school that closed between November 1, 2013 and December 4, 2015. Nearly half of those qualified attended Corinthian Colleges, Inc, according to Forbes.

Maybe I shouldn’t have entered into debt for the rest of my life just for four years of party bliss.

[h/t Bloomberg]