Currently, over 40 percent of student loan borrowers leaving college owe at least $20,000. That’s double, up from 20 percent in the last decade. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a study that analyzed borrowers who began repaying loans from 2002 to 2014, and looked at their repayment status through 2016. The data suggests that:

At least 40 percent of borrowers owe over $20,000.

Thirty percent of student loan borrowers are behind their loan balances after five years in repayment.

50 percent of student loan borrowers are over 34 when they start repaying their loans

60 percent of those who cannot reduce their balances are delinquent.

The report also indicates growth in awareness among private companies who offer incentives to employees with student debt. Employers are increasingly helping their employees who borrowed by offering repayment assistance and other programs designed to help employees in debt. The information released seems to back up the issue of growing student loan debt in the United States.

The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray said, “The bureau’s research shows that people are taking on more student debt later in life and having a tougher time paying it back.” At the end of the first quarter of 2017, outstanding student loan balances were over $1.3 trillion, up $34 billion from the last quarter of 2016.