www.aplu.org
At public universities, 42 percent have no debt. 65 percent have less than 20K debt. 0. 5percent of public university undergrad degree holders incur 6 fig debt.
We break down the average student loan debt by year for each graduating class and highlight the trend of growing student loan debt.
thecollegeinvestor.com
Median student loan debt 2021 = 19K .
https://thecollegeinvestor.com/32031/average-student-loan-debt-by-year/
As you've pointed out, masters degrees other (~63K debt), masters of arts (63 K debt). Law school encompasses a massive range with people graduating from schools that have terrible salary payouts with 6 fig debt. Same with MBAs; lots of crappy schools in that mix causing nearly 100 K debt.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/average-student-loan-debt-graduate-school#:~:text=The average total student loan debt of $82,800,who enroll in longer programs — owe $183,200. Average debt across graduate students is about ~80K.
And, take a look at these morons:
https://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2013/11/debt Note this article is from 2013. It's worse now. Check out these as well:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31800062/#:~:text=The most frequently reported debt range for doctor,as a barrier to their desired practice setting. 120K average debt to be a freaking PT.
Similar story for applied degrees in things like OT or Speech Therapy. or see 150K to be a witch doctor, otherwise known as chiropractor.
Those data encompass a lot of bad decisions.
Also, our middle class has shifted.
https://money.cnn.com/2016/06/21/news/economy/upper-middle-class/index.html with expansion of the upper middle class. It is misleading to say wages have stagnated.
An analysis of student loan debt over time in the U.S., including the debt per borrower and the debt-to-income ratio (DTI) among graduates.
educationdata.org
Check out the average debt in 2021 dollars. It is marginally more expensive than in 2000 and about 30 percent up compared to 1996.