The Changing Profile of Student Borrowers

This report focuses on the family income background of recent college graduates who took on student debt and how the financial profile of borrowers has changed over the past 20 years. Many recent analyses have examined why undergraduates are borrowing more for their education. This analysis seeks to illuminate which undergraduates are increasingly borrowing to finance their completion of a bachelor’s degree. Understanding the changing income background of student borrowers is useful for illuminating why college graduates may be having greater difficulty in meeting their debt obligations as well as understanding who might benefit from proposals to shift the repayment of loans from the student to the government.