Report Highlights. Women and gender-variant borrowers are the most likely to carry large amounts of debt; male students are most likely to get financial help from their parents and family.
- 64% of all student loan debt belongs to women.
- The average student debt for women in the U.S. is $31,726.
- Women have a median annual salary of $56,170 following college graduation, which is 26% of what men can expect to earn following graduation.
- With an average monthly debt repayment of $307 per month, it is difficult for women to pay off student loan debt on top of their living expenses following college graduation.
- Student borrowers who identify as being in a gender minority have an average of $1,900 less in federal student loan debt than those who do not.
Related reports include Student Loan Debt Statistics | by State | by Race | by Age | Average Law School Debt | Average Medical School Debt | Student Loan Refinancing
This report conforms to the terminology used in raw data, which can vary significantly from source to source. Male (or man) and female (or woman) may refer to sex or gender identities while cis-male and cis-female describe male-born males and female-born females respectively. Many official data collection programs use the terms “sex” and “gender” interchangeably.
Student Loan Debt by Sex or Gender
Between men and women, women are more likely to take on more debt and to stay in debt longer.
- Parents of white male students are more likely to take out loans on their behalf or pay out of pocket, to contribute to their education.
- Among associate’s degree holders, 36% of males, 41% of females, and 34% of non-binary students received student loans.
- 52% of Bachelor’s degree-holding males received federal loans while 13% received Parent PLUS loans.
- 65% of female Bachelor’s degree holders obtained federal loans, and 13% received Parent PLUS loans.
- 52% of non-binary Bachelor’s degree holders obtained federal loans, and 21% received Parent PLUS loans.
- Male student borrowers are the least likely to have high amounts of debt.
- Black women have the highest level of student debt following college graduation at $29,051, compared to other women in white, Hispanic, and Asian populations.
- Black male borrowers have the most undergraduate student debt at $25,336 compared to other men in white, Hispanic, and Asian populations.
- Women owe more in graduate student loan debt than men, except in professional doctorate degrees.
- While some students identified as transgender, there are, as yet, not enough male-to-female nor female-to-male student respondents to create meaningful data sets.
Student Loan Payments by Sex
One reason a borrower’s loan debt may grow over time is they are not making monthly payments large enough to cover accumulated interest.
- 12 years after college graduation, white men have paid off up to 44% of their student loan debt, while white women have only paid off up to 28%.
- Black women on the other hand see their loan debt increase due to additional incurred costs, up to 13% over 12 years, compared to black men who see 11% more debt on average.
- Men and women have average monthly payments over $400 per month.
- A higher percentage of women borrow federal student loans than men, borrow higher amounts, and pay them back at a lower amount per month than men as well.
- A higher percentage of women also borrow private student loans than men, and pay them back at a lower amount than men over time.
Student Loan Debt Among Females
Women owe a disproportionately high amount of the total student loan debt. Women are also more likely to have high amounts of debt. Some of this is likely due to the fact that female bachelor’s degree holders are paid 80% of what their male peers make.
- Female students are more likely to obtain student loans for themselves.
- $929 billion in student loan debt belongs to women.
- Women hold 64% of all student loan debt.
- During 2019-2020, 49% of women undergraduates take out student loans, compared to 42% of male undergraduates.
- Women take an additional two years on average to pay off student loans.
- Black women have the highest average amount of debt.
- Asian women have the lowest average amount of student loan debt.
- Women of color have almost twice the amount of student debt compared to white women.
- The average Black woman’s student loan debt grows 13% in their first 12 years of repayment.
- In the same period, the average White woman’s student loan debt shrinks by 28%.
- White men, in comparison, see their student loan debts drop by 44%.
Student Loan Debt Beyond Binary
A low relative population makes it difficult to derive meaningful statistics regarding transgender, non-binary, and students with other gender identities; 1.8% of bachelor’s degree holders of the 2015-2016 cohort identify as a gender minority.
What little hard data is available indicates that gender variant student borrowers face policy-related obstacles that cis-male and cis-female students do not face. This includes difficulties with identity verification in cases of official sex or name changes.
- Gender variant federal student loan borrowers are more likely than men or women to make lower student loan payments.
- In surveys, indebted federal student loan borrowers who selected multiple genders had borrowed a higher amount than men but lower amount than women.
- Gender nonconforming students were less likely than women to have federal student loan debt totaling $40,000.
- Federal student loan borrowers identifying as a gender minority owe an average of $1,900 less in student loan debt than their peers.
- Federal student loan borrowers identifying as a gender minority report they owe more on their loan than their peers.
- Gender minority federal student loan borrowers borrow 19% more in student loans than male borrowers on average.
Student Loan Debt Impact by Sex & Gender
Source data for this section uses the terms “male” and “female” to refer to respondents who identify as their biological sex (at birth). “Gender minority” refers to all other gender identities. Data are based on 10 years after graduating with a bachelor’s degree.
- Following their bachelor’s degree, 91% of males, and 85% of females were working in full-time jobs.
- 64% of female bachelor’s degree holders own a home.
- 31% of gender minority degree holders own a home.
- 87% of male degree holders have retirement accounts.
- 86% of female and 74% of gender minority bachelor’s degree holders have retirement accounts.
- 22% of female bachelor’s degree holders report a negative net worth, compared to 18% of males.
- 26% of females and 11% of male bachelor’s degree holders could not meet essential expenses over the past 12 months.
- 30% of gender minority degree holders reported a negative net worth, and 18% of gender minority bachelor’s degree holders could not meet essential expenses over the past 12 months.
Sources
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Digest of Education Statistics
- American Association of University of Women, Deeper in Debt NSA Reports
- Demos, Debt to Society: The Case for Bold, Equitable Student Loan Cancellation and Reform
- NCES, Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study
- NCES, Annual Reports and Information, Annual Earnings By Educational Attainment