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Mitigating the Growing Impact of Student Loan Debt
Irene Lew, Carolina Rodriguez, Patrick Joseph, Emerita Torres
Summary: Student loan debt has reached $1.7 trillion in the United States and is the second largest form of consumer debt next to mortgages. In New York State, approximately 2.4 million people owe more than $98 billion in student debt, with one million of these borrowers living in New York City. Prior to the COVID-19-related economic downturn, 43 percent of all federal student loans were considered “in distress” because they were either delinquent, in default, or total loan balances were increasing. With pandemic-related student debt relief set to expire in 2022, we can expect the number of borrowers in distress to increase significantly. In this brief, part of the series “Whose Recovery? Addressing the Needs of Low-Income New Yorkers,” we focus on New Yorkers who are disproportionately impacted by student debt and the hardships that they face because of their debt and provide key findings and policy recommendations.
Issues: Economic Mobility & Security, The Unheard Third
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