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Financial Planning > College Planning > Student Loan Debt

Americans Fed Up With College Costs, Student Loan Debt: Survey

By Michael S. Fischer

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The Biden administration’s federal student loan forgiveness plan is a nonstarter following the Supreme Court’s denial of the president’s power to forgive up to $20,000 of debt for millions of Americans.

But a new study by Bankrate suggests that lawmakers will come under increasing pressure to address the $1.8 trillion debt burden.

To find out how Americans feel about student loan debt, Bankrate commissioned YouGov Plc to conduct a survey, which took place in mid-June among 3,684 U.S. adults, of whom 1,400 have ever had a student loan and 588 currently have student loan debt. 

The poll found that more than half of all respondents, including current and past borrowers and nonborrowers, agreed that higher education costs have gotten out of hand. Baby boomers and Generation Xers were more likely than millennials and Generation Z to share this sentiment.

Thirty-one percent of respondents said the federal government has not done enough to provide borrowers with financial assistance. This figure shoots up to 48% of those who currently have debt.

Seventeen percent of the full sample said the government has done too much, and 12% think it has done enough.

Millennial and Gen X borrowers were most likely to say the government should do more to help, while baby boomers were most likely to say it has done too much.

Three in 10 respondents maintained that borrowers should pay back their entire student loan debt balance. Perhaps, not surprisingly, only 15% of those with debt agreed. Twenty-two percent of Gen Z borrowers said borrowers should be entirely responsible for their balance, versus 16% of this age cohort who have never borrowed.

Forty-four percent of Americans surveyed said students are not sufficiently educated about the ramifications of taking on debt before they borrow to fund their education, including 49% who no longer have debt, 47% who have current debt and 42% who have never borrowed.

Image: Shutterstock

Michael S. Fischer

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