Outstanding Student Loan Portfolio Has Now Topped $1.5 Trillion Dollars

Outstanding Student Loan Portfolio Has Now Topped $1.5 Trillion Dollars

How much higher does this number need to get before we do something about it?

The Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) reports:

Federal Student Aid Posts New Reports to FSA Data Center

Today, Federal Student Aid released a series of updates to the quarterly application, disbursement, and portfolio reports on its FSA Data Center to include data through September 30, 2019. As part of this release, servicer performance allocation metrics for the period beginning September 1, 2019, were also refreshed. Federal Student Aid proactively posts these reports in support of open government initiatives to help ensure consistency, increase transparency, and establish self-service opportunities for stakeholders.

Key Findings in the Quarterly Reports

While not exhaustive, the information below provides a snapshot of key findings in our most recent reporting. Student loans are highly cyclical in nature so figures should be compared year over year whenever possible.

Loan Portfolio Overview

Today, the outstanding federal student loan portfolio is $1.51 trillion. The Direct Loan (DL) portfolio now represents 82 percent of the outstanding loan portfolio while the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) portfolio represents 17 percent, and Federal Perkins Loan Program loans comprise less than one-half percent. The federally managed portfolio, which includes DL and FFEL Program loans owned by the Department, is now $1.33 trillion, representing more than 88 percent of the total portfolio. The growth of the portfolio has slowed since 2010 as new disbursements have declined. Year-over-year, the total federal loan portfolio has increased 4.9 percent—about $71 billion—with the FFEL portfolio decreasing by more than seven percent and the DL portfolio increasing by eight percent.

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