COUNT US IN Student loan debt pandemic

BY CY WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS BY JESSICA WETTERER

Women on average carry a higher amount of student loan debt than men. They hold $929 billion in student loan debt, 58% of all student loan debt in the United States.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, student loan debt balances nationwide increased by 8.28%.

According to a report published by Melanie Hanson for educationdata.org, the total dollar amount of student loan debt in the United States equals $1.73 million. Several million of those loans are private loans, which are ineligible for protection under the CARES Act.

According to another report by Melanie Hanson, Black women have the highest average amount of debt, and after 12 years of repaying their student loans they owe an average of 13% more than what they borrowed.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 3.2 million new student loan borrowers. Coupled with a spike in unemployment because of business closures, mass layoffs, etc., this contributed to the largest increase in the total student loan debt balance since 2013.

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Caroline Coombs-Skiles, M.D., FACS Austin Moya Griffin, M.D., FACS Austin Heather King, M.D., FACS Austin Aimee Mackey, M.D., FACS Austin Bridget O’Brien, D.O., FACS, FSSO Cedar Park and Georgetown Julie M. Sprunt, M.D., FACS Austin and Bastrop Sherrie Thomas, M.D., FACS Austin and Round Rock