More student loan borrowers are finding themselves deeper in debt and taking a longer time to pay off their student loans — and an increasing number of student loan borrowers are older than in the past, according to a report released Wednesday from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The CFPB report shows that while borrowers with more than $20,000 in loans represented just 20 percent of all student loan borrowers entering repayment 15 years ago, they now make up more than 40 percent of all borrowers entering repayment.
For example, the report states, borrowers with very small loan amounts — those less than $5,000 — are two-and-a-half to four times more likely than borrowers with large loans — those $50,000 or more — to fully repay their loans within the eight years after they enter repayment.
The report also found that the share of borrowers under age 25 dropped from 30 percent in the 2002 cohort to 15 percent in the 2014 cohort, while the share of borrowers age 35 and up “almost doubled over this period.”
While most student loan borrowers are taking out loans for their own education, an increasing number are taking out loans for their children or grandchildren, the report states.
“There also has been an increase in the share of borrowers returning to school at older ages,” the report states.
