Data insights provided by the Analytics Team at SoFi

Today’s post is all about how men and women* compare in our student loan refinancing data set. What we found? Both men and women have high student debt loads. (Not a revelation.) Men also get paid more than women on average. (Also not a revelation.)

But here’s what’s interesting: Despite the fact that women have as much student debt and make less money than men, women in the SoFi data set pay their debt off more quickly than men—by nearly 10% (9.3% exactly).

Anyone who pursues the medical field knows that the path to becoming a doctor is laden with student debt. In fact, 76% of 2016 medical school graduates have student loans, with a median student debt load of $190,000 at graduation. And future doctors aren’t just sitting on a pile of debt throughout medical school; even upon starting residency, they’re still accruing interest on that debt while only earning, typically, about $60,000 a year.

Four years ago, we kicked off what would become our first Entrepreneur Program class. Since then, we’ve helped four classes of 70 companies founded by SoFi members get off the ground with our coaching and resources. We’ve been excited by what these alumni companies have gone on to do: for instance, four out of the five FinTech companies that have participated have had significant liquidity (Standard Treasury, Good April) events or markups (Funding Circle, Axio). Further, companies like Augmedix, CancerIQ, Metrix, Stasis, and others are working on solving huge problems through innovation and technology.

As we enter what will be year five of the program, we thought about what kinds of improvements we could make to further benefit future classes. As a startup ourselves, we understand the challenges first-hand and want to contribute back to the ecosystem, and continue to find ways to serve our members. Today we’re unveiling those improvements as part of the relaunch of the program, and we’re accepting applications now through November 17 for ten open slots.

A Note on the Taper

Now that the markets are accustomed to heightened tensions with North Korea, attention is shifting back to monetary policy once again. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, several of the world’s central banks employed extraordinary measures to help stabilize economies. Now the question is how are they going to scale back, or “taper,” those policies and what affect that will have on asset prices.

When you’re in the personal finance business, the real human impact of debt can get overshadowed by interest rates, terms, and other number jargon. But—there is a hugely meaningful moment when that debt is suddenly gone. It’s the culmination of years of hard work, sacrifices, and pushing toward a goal of seeing a $0 balance over the span of many years. Despite all that effort, the final payment usually happens without much fanfare.