How Student Loan Debt Impacts All Ages and What Trump’s Administration Can Do

When Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump visited my college campus to debate in 2016, my friends and I were determined to make a statement. Working in shifts for over a week, we transformed a 6-foot-tall rubber ball into a giant midnight-black orb, leaving behind a mountain of empty spray paint cans. Then, we added the final touch in contrasting white: giant numbers reading $1.387 trillion—the total amount of outstanding student loan debt at the time. It was our way of symbolizing the burden of the student loan crisis we were just beginning to feel.

As I watched my classmates carry the enormous ball over their heads across campus, their effort felt symbolic—young people literally bearing the weight of the student loan debt alone. The press, who followed snapping pictures, seemed to agree. In the years following Trump’s election, images of our giant ball of debt appeared in major news outlets like Bloomberg, The Guardian, and The Atlantic, accompanying stories of the growing debt crisis.

But this symbolism—and most of the news coverage—missed something crucial: Student loan debt wasn’t just weighing on young people. Even back in 2016, there were signs of the debt’s intergenerational impact. A college friend felt guilty that his parents, already struggling to maintain their middle-class status, had taken on significant debt to finance his degree. Not long after, the Government Accountability Office published a 90-page report on what seemed like a niche issue: older adults nearing retirement age with student loan debt.

Today, as a higher education analyst, I work to show that older borrowers are far from a niche topic: They’re a key part of the student loan crisis. In 2022, 3.5 million Americans over the age of 60 were carrying student loan debt. This group has grown faster than any other group of student loan borrowers, increasing by more than 500 percent over the past 20 years.

Some older borrowers, like my friend’s parents, took on debt for their children’s education. But even more are still paying off loans from their own college years, long after they expected to be debt-free. Unemployment, sickness, and poor-quality degree programs leave some borrowers with little economic return on their college investment. When these challenges collide with a student loan system that provides inadequate or inconsistent relief, the result is a financial trap that can last decades. Among those over 62 with federal debt from their own education, more than 40 percent have been trying to repay for over 20 years, and 30 percent for over a quarter of a century.

When this long struggle results in default, the consequences can be devastating. One in three older borrowers—roughly 800,000 people—is in default on their loans. When in default, borrowers risk having their wages garnished, their tax refunds seized, and, most painfully, their Social Security payments cut.

Things could soon get even worse for older borrowers. While pandemic-era programs temporarily halted involuntary collections, these are set to resume in 2025. And, just like in 2016, the country elected a president who remains skeptical about the need for student loan relief.

“Eight years after my classmates hoisted up that giant ball of debt, it’s clear that older borrowers have suffered the greatest and longest-lasting harm from flawed loan repayment policies.”

Despite President-elect Trump’s reservations about broader student loan reforms, he has pledged to protect America’s seniors. His administration can start by shielding older borrowers’ Social Security payments from seizure, a move consistent with his campaign promise to stop taxing these benefits. The administration could also help older borrowers avoid collections altogether by automatically enrolling delinquent borrowers into affordable repayment plans.

Beyond improving the loan system, the administration should focus on preventing unaffordable debt from piling up in the first place. Expanding federal aid for children from low-income families could lessen the need for parents to take on insurmountable debt. Building on bipartisan interest in holding colleges accountable, Congress and the Department of Education could require institutions that disburse student loans to ensure graduates leave with jobs and opportunities, not a lifetime of crushing debt.

Eight years after my classmates hoisted up that giant ball of debt, it’s clear that older borrowers have suffered the greatest and longest-lasting harm from flawed loan repayment policies. If the next administration is serious about its pledge to protect America’s seniors, it must lighten the load of student loan debt that too many older borrowers are still struggling to carry.

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