What Is The Average Student Loan Interest Rate?

No one today can afford college tuition on their own, but student loans have made it possible today.

Gone are the days when college was actually affordable. But wait, was it ever?

Every student dreams of studying in a prestigious college, doing their favorite degree and ending up with their dream job. But all of this process requires money, and lots of it! An average American earns only enough to meet his daily expenses and save a little for a year-end vacation. Affording college tuition in this income is not possible for many.

The government understands this, which is why it offers student loans to many of its students. They take the loan and whether they complete their degree or not, they have to pay it all back in portions for the next couple of years.

Statistics show that over 35 million students have borrowed student loans to pay their fees and the current student loan debt is $1.56 trillion.

Current Student Loan Interest Rates

Here are the current student loan interest rates combined in one table.

Refinance student loans
Fixed 3.20% to 8.63%
Variable 1.99% to 8.38%
Private student loans
Fixed 3.82% to 14.50%
Variable 1.20% to 12.99%
Federal student loans (fixed)
Undergraduate 2.75%
Graduate 4.30%
PLUS (Parent, Grad) 5.30%

Note: Sample rates have been extracted online, courtesy of NerdWallet.

Average Student Loan Interest Rate

The average student loan interest rate is 5.8%. With a 5.8% interest rate on $30,000 of student loans, a borrower would pay about $9,600 in interest throughout 10 years. This is the basic of how a student loan works.

Average Private Student Loan Interest Rate

This figure is obviously higher, with the average private student loan interest rate hitting almost 7.81% in 2020. More than 1.4 million students look for private student loan options to fund their college fees and their routine expenses.

Student Loan Repayment Calculator

Once you’ve gotten the loan, the next step of actually paying it back is severe. Federal loans generally have a standard repayment period of upto 10 years whereas repayment for a private student loan can range anywhere between 5-20 years.

If you’re a graduate, the graduate student loan rates will start with a very low amount of $172 a month, but will eventually rise up to $516 a month. This means the average amount of monthly repayment is somewhere between $344.

There are tons of online calculators available on the internet which allow you to make an estimate of how much money you will be repaying each month. You can try this Student Loan Repayment Calculator to have a basic estimate of the amount.

Best Student Loan Refinance Companies 2020

Here are the best student loan refinance companies of 2020, so if you’re looking for a student loan, you should head to these companies for assistance.

Conclusion

Even though higher education is super expensive in the country, still there are many companies and federally funded programs who have made it easier. With an aim to provide easy student loans with a repayment plan, many students have taken advantage of such policies.

Repaying student loans in their own time is important, however with the rising interest rate if it isn’t affordable for some students to pay back, there are specific programs that get your loan forgiven too. If you have other sources of paying your college fee, take a very nominal amount of loan which is also easier for you to pay back when the time comes. Even if students don’t graduate and dropout in the middle of the degree, they HAVE to repay the loan back.

John Otero

John Otero

John Otero is an industry practitioner with more than 15 years of experience in the insurance industry. He has held various senior management roles both in the insurance companies and insurance brokers during this span of time. He began his insurance career in 2004 as an office assistant at an agency in her hometown of Duluth, MN. He got licensed as a producer while working at that agency and progressed to serve as an office manager. Working in the agency is how he fell in love with the industry. He saw firsthand the good that insurance consumers experienced by having the proper protection. John has diverse experience in corporate & consumer insurance services, across a range of vocations. His specialties include Major Corporate risk management and insurance programs, and Financial Lines He has been instrumental in making his firm as one of the leading organizations in the country in generating sustainable rapid growth of the company while maintaining service excellence to clients.