Beginning in the spring of 2020, the SSTAR Lab launched Student Debt in Wisconsin to monitor and assess student loan debt in the state. The series helped inform the Governor’s Student Debt Task Force, which released its final report in August, 2020. Our debt series includes data on the number of federal student loan borrowers in the state, their median and average debts, and student loan default and repayment rates. It also includes regional data by metropolitan areas, where we examine trends over time in the percent of adults with debt, their delinquency rates, and outstanding balances. Data on student debt is surprisingly difficult to access, so this series provides high quality and timely data on student debt in the state and is updated throughout the year.
Federal Student Debt in Wisconsin
With student debt beginning to receive serious attention in Wisconsin, basic information about “who borrows” and “how much” is critical to diagnosing and ultimately solving student debt problems. Accordingly, this post uses data from the …
Distribution of Federal Student Debt in Wisconsin
Our previous post showed 715,800 Wisconsinites carry a combined $23.1 billion in student loan debt—or on average, $32,230 per borrower. While these figures are a good starting point, looking at averages alone can hide the …
Student Debt Across Wisconsin Metro Areas
So far, this series has focused on average debt and the distribution of debt among Wisconsin federal loan borrowers. Here, we shift attention to Wisconsin’s 12 metro areas and provide an interactive tool to explore …
Debt at Graduation Among Wisconsin Colleges and Universities
Our previous work examined statewide and regional trends in student debt. In this post, we use data from the US Department of Education’s College Scorecard to see how debt varies across Wisconsin’s public, non-profit, and …
Default Rates Among Wisconsin Colleges and Universities
While previous posts in this series have focused on student borrowing, here we shift attention to one of the most pernicious outcomes student borrowers can experience: default, or failing to make agreed-upon payments towards their …
Wisconsin Residents in Default on Student Loans
While most borrowers will not default on their student loans, the steep consequences of doing so makes default one of the most pernicious possible outcomes for student borrowers. To supplement our previous work highlighting school …
Student Loan Repayment Rates in Wisconsin
Previous work in this series has addressed student loan default rates, but default is an extreme event. To build a more comprehensive understanding of loan repayment, this post reports student loan repayment rates at Wisconsin …