Student Loan Interest Rates: A Survey of Federal, State, and Private Programs
Student loans can help fill cost gaps created by insufficient grants, scholarships, and family income in funding a postsecondary education. Whereas receipt of grant aid does not require repayment, student loans must be repaid with interest. Loans provide students with additional choices, such as living independently (instead of living with parents and commuting) or working less hours or not at all. (1) However, concern has grown over the extent to which students must rely on loans to finance their college education.
Nationally, student loan debt rose to $1.5 trillion in 20182 and is currently the second-largest form of debt in the country after mortgage and home equity debt.3 Fifty-seven percent of college graduates from the class of 2016-17 received student loans, and the average debt was $27,293. Loan interest rates constitute one factor that can influence students’ ultimate loan burden.
This policy scan examines changes in federal student loan interest rates over time; the wide variation in interest rates for state-sponsored student loans; and interest rates for private student loans.
