State of the Union 2019: Student Debt

  • Relative to Generation X, millennials took out more student loans, took out larger student loans, and defaulted more frequently. 
  • Defaults increased because millennials faced higher tuition payments, took out larger loans to meet those higher costs, turned to for-profit schools that don’t offer any returns, and entered a labor market in the throes of recession.

Reference Information

Author: 

Susan Dynarski
Publisher: 
Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality
Publication Date: 
June 2019