Roughly 60 percent U.S. adults who have held student loan debt have put off making important financial decisions due to that debt, according to a new Bankrate survey. For Gen Z and millennial borrowers alone, that number rises to 70 percent. Student loans have prevented these borrowers from saving for retirement or emergencies, buying a home or paying off other debt, like credit cards.
Despite this, a majority of U.S. adults with student loan debt say that their degree has unlocked career and salary opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, highlighting the complicated relationship that many Americans have with their student loan debt.
Here are the key findings:
