{"id":8904,"date":"2023-12-13T15:59:08","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T20:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/?p=8904"},"modified":"2023-12-13T15:59:08","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T20:59:08","slug":"students-graduate-with-significantly-more-debt-than-their-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/gen-z-research\/students-graduate-with-significantly-more-debt-than-their-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Graduate With Significantly More Debt Than Their Parents"},"content":{"rendered":"

ScholarshipOwl<\/a> conducts monthly surveys to help us to gain deeper insight into Gen Z\u2019s perspectives about college, scholarships, financial aid, and their future. In November, we asked students about what they’ve learned about student loans from their parents to gauge how that may have impacted the students’ decisions about whether or not to take on student debt. While 83% of respondents indicated that their parents have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of student loans, the overwhelming majority of respondents still will graduate with student debt. What stood out the most was that 88% of respondents will graduate with debt, while only 52% of their parents had to do the same.<\/p>\n

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Who participated in the survey?<\/b><\/h2>\n

In November 2023, ScholarshipOwl surveyed high school and college students on the ScholarshipOwl scholarship platform to learn more about their views about the value of college. A total of 6545 students responded.<\/p>\n

Among the respondents, 62% were female, 36% were male, and 2% identified themselves as other. Nearly half (49%) were Caucasian, 21% were Black, 16% were Hispanic\/Latino, 6% were Asian\/Pacific Islander and 6% identified as other.<\/p>\n

More than half (58%) of the respondents were high school students, with the vast majority high school seniors; over one-third (34%) were college undergraduate students, primarily college freshmen and college sophomores; 5% were graduate students and 3% identified themselves as adult\/non-traditional students.<\/p>\n

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Survey questions<\/b><\/h2>\n

Question 1<\/h3>\n

We began the survey by asking students, \u201cHave your parents talked to you about the advantages and disadvantages of student loans?\u201d The overwhelming majority (83%) said yes, while less than one-fifth (17%) said no.<\/p>\n

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Question 2<\/h3>\n

The next question was, \u201cHave your parents encouraged you to take out student loans to help cover college costs?\u201d Nearly half of the students (46%) responded yes, while just over half (54%) said no.<\/p>\n

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Question 3<\/h3>\n

We wanted to learn the impact of these conversations with parents on student decision-making regarding student loans. We asked students, \u201cHow much student debt do you expect to have after you complete your college education?\u201d Overall, 88% of respondents expect to graduate with some amount of student debt. The full breakdown:<\/p>\n