Student-loan borrowers have delayed buying a home or car, having kids, and getting married because of their debt — even for those with balances smaller than $10,000

College graduates. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

• A new Gallup and Lumina Foundation report delved into the impact of college costs on adults’ lives.
• It found that student-loan borrowers often delay key milestones, like having kids, because of the debt.
• Even borrowers with balances smaller than $10,000 have pushed off life events. 

Many student-loan borrowers—even those with relatively small balances — can’t progress in life because their debt is holding them back.

On Wednesday, Gallup and the Lumina Foundation released a new report on the cost of college and how high education costs impact students’ decisions to stay in school and make major life choices.

Based on surveys conducted from October and November 2023 with over 13,000 adults aged 18 to 59, the report found that cost is the “top reason” students currently enrolled in school consider dropping out. And 85% of respondents who weren’t enrolled in a program said the cost of a degree was the reason.

While six in 10 students currently enrolled in college said financial aid or scholarships are a “very important” factor in remaining in school, the student debt that often follows them post-graduation can significantly impact their ability to progress financially. For example, per the survey, 71% of currently and previously enrolled student-loan borrowers reported “delaying at least one significant life event because of their student debt,” the report said.

Specifically, 29% of them delayed buying a home, 28% of them delayed buying a car, 15% of them delayed having children, and 13% of them delayed getting married.

And delaying life events didn’t discriminate by student-loan balance, as the report found: 98% of overall respondents with balances of $75,000 or more reported pushing off those events, with 63% of respondents with balances less than $10,000 reporting the same.

“Especially given how many people have loans and how much [in] loans they have, it’s really scary to me … that it will be hanging over a lot of people’s heads for maybe their entire lives. I think it’s cool that people are getting a college education, but I do worry about the financial repercussions,” a currently enrolled student said in the report.

Business Insider has previously spoken to a range of borrowers who have struggled to pay off their student loans, having to make sacrifices in other parts of their lives. For example, one borrower told BI that he was unable to afford rent on top of his monthly student-loan payments, so he moved into a school bus to save money.

“While college was a great way for me to figure some things out, it was a really expensive way for me to do that,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that again. I would have gone into the trades. The student-loan debt is by far my biggest regret — it’s too much money to let somebody borrow at 18 years old.”

Many borrowers are also struggling to adjust to an additional monthly student-loan bill after the over three-year pause on payments during the pandemic ended in the fall. However, President Joe Biden’s Education Department has implemented a range of targeted relief measures to ease the burden on borrowers, including a new income-driven repayment plan with a shortened timeline to loan forgiveness.

The Education Department is also in the process of crafting its broader version of student-loan forgiveness after the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s first plan. The draft text of the rules was released on Tuesday, and the department expects to implement some of the relief as early as this fall.

Have you delayed a major life milestone because of your student debt? How has the burden impacted you? Share your story with this reporter at [email protected].

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