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More than 4 in 10 – 42% – of federal student loan borrowers say their monthly payments for that debt make it harder to cover basic needs such as food and housing, according to a forthcoming survey.
Data for Progress and The Institute for College Access & Success gave CNBC an early look at the survey, set for release Tuesday, which gauges how federal student loan debt has affected borrowers’ finances.
More than a third of borrowers surveyed, or 37%, said it’s more challenging to meet health-care expenses because of their education debt, while 52% said it’s been more of a struggle to save for retirement, the survey found. Nearly a third of the borrowers, or 30%, said that the debt has had a negative impact on their plans to get married and start a family, the survey found.
“In exchange for trying to better their future, many now face a monthly choice between making their student loan payment or buying groceries, avoiding eviction or getting critical medical care,” said Michele Zampini, senior director of college affordability at The Institute for College Access & Success, or TICAS. Data for Progress is a left-leaning think tank and polling firm, and TICAS is a nonprofit that advocates for college affordability.
The groups polled more than 1,000 self-identified federal student loan borrowers in September.
The findings are the latest indicator that a growing share of student loan borrowers are falling behind on their payments. More than 5 million borrowers are currently in default, and that total could swell to roughly 10 million borrowers soon, the Trump administration said earlier this year.
Experts say borrowers are reeling from a weakening labor market, as well as a barrage of changes to the student loan system and recent trouble accessing relief programs under the Trump administration.
The U.S. Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
Over 42 million Americans hold student loans and the outstanding debt exceeds $1.6 trillion, according to the Congressional Research Service.
‘Budgeting in ways they never imagined just to survive’
Carolina Rodriguez, director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program in New York, said she often hears from student loan borrowers who are forced to cut back on essentials.
“Highly educated individuals are budgeting in ways they never imagined just to survive,” Rodriguez said. “The food line item is often reduced, but there’s only so much they can cut.”
The current average federal student loan balance is around $39,000, compared with roughly $29,000 in 2015 and $18,000 in 2007, according to an analysis by higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
Wage growth for new college graduates has sputtered. The median annual salary for new college graduates was $60,000 in 2024, compared with $60,595 in 2020, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As of June, more than 40% of recent college graduates were considered “underemployed,” or working in a job that doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree, the New York Fed found.
“Young job seekers are having an especially difficult time in the low-hire environment of 2025,” said Laura Ullrich, director of economic research at Indeed.
Trump’s changes will make repayment harder, experts say
Under the Trump administration, hundreds of thousands of borrowers have been stuck in application backlogs for a new repayment plan or loan forgiveness. Those delays prompted a lawsuit by the American Federation of Teachers earlier this year, which resulted in the Education Department agreeing in October to make progress on those requests.
Still, recent changes to the student loan system are likely to saddle many borrowers with larger payments, making competing bills for housing, health care and other expenses only harder to meet, experts say.
President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will phase out several longstanding affordable repayment plans and relief options. For example, many borrowers will eventually lose access to the unemployment deferment, a way to pause payments after a job loss.
“We expect to see an ongoing increase in defaults, especially as living costs rise at the same time that repayment protections are going away,” Zampini said.
