Trends in Debt, Time to Degree, and Employment: Data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study

The National Center for Education Statistics has released First Look, a description of the enrollment and employment experiences of a sample of students who completed bachelor’s degrees between 2007 and 2008. The survey, conducted one year after the students graduated, gathers information about student debt loads and time taken to complete a bachelor’s degree, disaggregated by institutional type and a number of demographic factors. The survey also presents data about the current employment status of these students. The survey found that the majority of students at all institutions took out federal loans to for their education, but students at for-profit institutions were especially likely to borrow, and took substantially longer to complete their degrees. The results also showed that most of these students were employed one year later, with many also enrolled in graduate programs.

Who Are the Students?

• Most students sampled (67.3 percent) were 23 years old or younger at time of degree completion; 19.4 percent were between 24 and 29, and 13.3 percent were 30 or older.
• A majority of those students (62.5 percent) completed their bachelor’s degrees at public institutions. Thirty-three percent completed their degrees at private nonprofit institutions, and 4.6 percent attended for-profit institutions.
• Fifty-six percent of sampled students held one full-time job one year after graduation, while 13.6 percent held one part-time job and 13.5 percent held multiple jobs. Nine percent were unemployed, and 6.9 percent were out of the labor force.

Time to Degree

• Median time to degree for all students sampled was 52 months; 44 percent completed their degrees in 48 months or less; 23 percent within 49 to 60 months; 9 percent in 61 to 72 months.
• Those who delayed entry into bachelor’s programs took longer to complete degrees—a median of 80 months, compared with 51 months for those who began degree programs immediately after high school.
• Time to degree varied according to institutional type. Students at private, nonprofit institutions averaged 45 months; public institutions averaged 55 months. Students at for-profit institutions took nearly twice as long—103 months.

Debt Load

• The average debt load for sampled students was $24,700. Sixty-two percent of students took out federal loans, borrowing an average of $18,000 cumulatively; 36 percent of students took out nonfederal (state and private) loans, with cumulative debt loads averaging $13,900.
• While the majority of students at all institutions took out loans (65.6 percent), those attending for-profit institutions were much more likely to borrow (more than 90 percent of students) compared with students who attended public institutions (61 percent) or private nonprofit institutions (69.5 percent). Students at for-profits also carried larger debt loads—$36,800 on average, compared with $28,900 at private nonprofits and $20,800 at public institutions.
• The survey found little correlation between time to degree and debt load. While students taking 120 months or more to complete their degree averaged the highest debt load at $27,600, students taking 61-70 months had the smallest debt load at $22,900. Students completing degrees in 48 months or less had an average debt of $24,100.

Download the full report as a PDF.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Nearly 20 percent of students were enrolled in graduate school one year after graduation.
• Time to degree varied relatively little by undergraduate major. Humanities and social science majors averaged the least amount of time at 45 months, while computer science majors took the most time at 58 months.
• Students who were claimed as dependents were less likely to take out loans than independent students, but only slightly less—61.3 percent of dependent students, compared with 73.5 percent of independents.