Student loan debt in the United States totals around $1.8 trillion, according to recent estimates from the Education Data Initiative (EDI). That’s a big number, but it represents only a tiny fraction of the combined wealth of the richest 1% of Americans.
The top 1% saw their wealth hit a record $52 trillion during the 2025 second quarter, CNBC reported, citing Federal Reserve data. That represented a $4 trillion gain from the previous year — enough to wipe out all the nation’s student debt and still have more than $2 trillion left over.
