Among graduates of the class of 2011-12, the typical student borrower owed about $26,900 in student debt. This is roughly double the amount owed by the typical borrower from the class of 1992-93 ($12,400).
Unlike the clear patterns for borrowing rates, the increase in the median amounts borrowed by graduates has been fairly uniform across subgroups of graduates.
In the class of 2011-12 borrowers from the lowest income quartile typically owed $23,081, a 65% increase over the $13,989 owed by the median borrower from the lowest income quartile in the class of 1992-93. The median amount borrowed by graduates from the lower-middle income quartile increased slightly more: 133% between 1992-93 ($10,880) and 2011-12 ($25,363).The percentage increase in the amounts borrowed for graduates from higher income backgrounds was somewhat less than 133%.
The median amounts borrowed roughly doubled regardless of parental education or gender (see additional figures in Appendix A).
