--- title: Student Loan Debt Has Forced Over 70% of Borrowers to Delay Major Life Events description: Over 70% of student loan borrowers say they’ve delayed a major life milestone, like buying a house or having kids, due to debt. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter at Money who frequently writes about news and trends related to car buying, auto insurance and gas prices. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 602 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2024-04-29T13:56:27.000Z' modified: '2024-04-29T13:56:27.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - News word_count: 443 canonical: https://money.com/student-loans-delay-life-events/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Sticker of a sad face emoji wearing a graduation cap](https://img.money.com/2024/04/News-Students-Delay-Milestones.png) Student loans are such a burden for Americans that 71% of a surveyed group of borrowers say they’ve delayed a major life milestone due to their debt. That's according to a recent [Gallup and Lumina Foundation report](https://www.gallup.com/analytics/468986/state-of-higher-education.aspx), which found borrowers have postponed major purchases including homes (named by 29% of respondents) and cars (28%). Debt has also led borrowers to delay moving out of their parents’ homes and put off having children. The survey, released earlier this month, polled current college students as well as previously enrolled students who stopped before completing a degree. Among the group of borrowers who paused their education, 35% say they haven’t re-enrolled due to their [student loans](https://money.com/student-loans/). ## Take control of your student loans today! ### Refinancing your Student Loans could save you money on interest, help pay off your loan faster and even free up extra cash in your budget. Why wait? Click on your state to get started today! [See Details](https://money.com/pr/z75814e16c7f?ap_referrer=%2Fstudent-loans-delay-life-events%2F) Borrowers ages 26 to 35 are the most likely demographic to have delayed a milestone. This may be because that group is at a "life stage in which these \[major\] events are more relevant than for younger borrowers," and their debt loads are typically higher than those of older borrowers, according to Gallup. While higher debt balances are strongly correlated with a greater chance of delaying life events, most borrowers with smaller debt amounts have still been impacted by their debt. The survey found that 63% of borrowers with less than $10,000 of student loan debt have delayed a life event. ## Student loan forgiveness updates For several years, tens of millions of Americans had a break from their federal student loan debt obligations thanks to COVID-era forbearance. Now that payments are back, the new data from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation underscores the significant challenges that borrowers are facing. Lawmakers have been trying to address this issue with mixed results. Most notably, President Joe Biden's first major effort at widespread loan forgiveness was struck down by the Supreme Court in June, but the administration is taking another crack at it with a [new loan forgiveness plan](https://money.com/biden-unveils-new-student-loan-forgiveness-plan/) that's narrower than the first (though still massive in scale). The new forgiveness initiatives, which were announced earlier this month, would cancel an estimated $150 billion worth of student loan debt, benefitting some 30 million borrowers. The administration's plans, which will almost certainly face legal challenges, would provide forgiveness for borrowers dealing with runaway interest and financial hardship. Other borrowers who've been paying their loans for more than two decades would also get forgiveness. Separately, piecemeal [student debt relief programs](https://money.com/how-to-get-student-loan-forgiveness/) that have been enacted to date during the Biden administration have resulted in relief for more than 4 million borrowers. ## Make your student loan payments work for you! ### Refinancing your student loan can help reduce your monthly payments and even the total cost of your loan. Why wait? Click below to get started today! [See Details](https://money.com/pr/f4f1fdfe5368?ap_referrer=%2Fstudent-loans-delay-life-events%2F) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/26621/medium_18b55bcd-82cd-4d73-b404-97711fd4a5e7.png) Refinance your Student Loan with SoFi today! [See Details](https://money.com/pr/odc45b263191?ap_referrer=%2Fstudent-loans-delay-life-events%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/student-loans-delay-life-events/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Student Loan Debt", "item": "https://money.com/student-loan-debt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Student Loan Debt Has Forced Over 70% of Borrowers to Delay Major Life Events" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/student-loans-delay-life-events/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/student-loans-delay-life-events/", "name": "Student Loan Debt Has Forced Over 70% of Borrowers to Delay Major Life Events", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-04-29T13:56:27.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/student-loans-delay-life-events/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/student-loans-delay-life-events/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-29T13:56:27.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Student Loan Debt Has Forced Over 70% of Borrowers to Delay Major Life Events", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/04/News-Students-Delay-Milestones.png", "width": 959, "height": 639, "caption": "News-Students-Delay-Milestones" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter at Money who frequently writes about news and trends related to car buying, auto insurance and gas prices.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2023/02/peter.png?w=350&h=430&crop=1", "email": "peter.grieve@money.com", "jobTitle": "Lead News Reporter", "alumniOf": "University of Chicago, BA Political Science", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/pete_grieve", "https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138", "https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2024-04-29T13:56:27.000Z", "description": "Over 70% of student loan borrowers say they’ve delayed a major life milestone, like buying a house or having kids, due to debt.", "abstract": "Over 70% of student loan borrowers say they’ve delayed a major life milestone, like buying a house or having kids, due to debt.", "@id": "https://money.com/student-loans-delay-life-events/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-29T13:56:27.000Z", "editor": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Julia Glum", "url": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/#author", "description": "Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. 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