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There’s no question that furthering your education can be an expensive endeavor. But depending on what they study, students in some majors can expect to pay a significantly higher price than others.
If your goal is to study law, medicine, or veterinary medicine, for example, and get a graduate degree, you could end up owing substantially more than the average borrower with an undergraduate degree.
Whether you choose your major out of passion or for the potential paycheck — or both — only time will tell if you’ll get the outcome you’re hoping for. In the meantime, it can be a good idea to look at how much you might have to borrow (in federal student loans, private student loans, or both) to finance the course of study you’re considering.
Key Points
• Federal and private student loan debt varies widely based on the major and degree level.
• Law, medical, dental, and veterinary degrees have some of the highest student loan debt, often exceeding $130,000.
• Choosing a major requires thinking not only about your future paycheck but also how much student debt you will have once you graduate.
• The average federal student loan debt balance per borrower is almost $40,000, while private student loan balances exceed $128 billion nationwide.
• Because federal loans have borrowing limits, many students take out private loans to cover their additional education costs.
Student Loan Debt in America
How much do student loan borrowers in the United States owe after college?
According to the Federal Reserve’s most recent numbers, outstanding U.S. student loan debt reached $1.84T as of December 2025. That’s nearly triple what Americans owed in 2006, based on Fed data.
In 2024, Gen X had the most student loan debt of any generation, with an average balance of $44,240 per borrower. Baby boomers had the second-largest amount at $41,887 per borrower, and millennials averaged $40,438 per borrower.
The United States isn’t the only country with significant student debt. In England, the value of outstanding higher education loans reached £267B (approximately $335B) at the end of March 2025. The UK government forecasts the value of outstanding loans to be around £500B (over $630B) by the late 2040s.
Although student loan forgiveness and other reforms are often discussed here and abroad, little has happened so far.
Recommended: Average Student Loan Debt: By Career
Average Student Loan Debt
According to the Education Data Initiative, the average federal student loan debt balance was $39,547 per borrower as of June 2025. If you include private student loan debt, the average balance could be as much as $43,333.
Of course, the amount you might borrow (or have borrowed) could vary significantly depending on your major and the degree required to pursue your chosen profession.
The average student loan debt for a borrower with a bachelor’s degree, including both federal and nonfederal loans, was $35,639 in 2025. But if your major leads you to graduate school, the cost can rise to an average of $64,440 for the graduate degree alone ($81,870 in total student loan debt). And if you’re thinking about a degree in law or medicine, your debt could be in the hundreds of thousands.
Federal student loan programs also allow graduate students to borrow more money than undergraduates. Graduate and professional program students can currently borrow up to their school’s cost of attendance (minus other aid) through the federal Grad PLUS program, but federal borrowing rules are scheduled to change beginning July 1, 2026.
Other factors that affect the amount students end up borrowing can include the cost of living in the state where the school is located, whether the school is public or private, and whether the student is paying in-state or out-of-state tuition.
Student Loan Debt by Major and Degree
When you first start thinking about how to choose your college major, it’s likely you base your top choices on the academic subjects you’ve always been good at or interested in. Maybe you have a passion for a subject you feel destined to pursue.
If you’re a practical person, you also may have considered what career that degree might potentially lead to and how much you’d earn if it became your profession.
What you may not have thought about — at least not at first — was how much it might cost you to major in one subject vs. another. Or whether you might have to get an advanced degree in your chosen major to actually get the job, or paycheck, of your dreams.
Here’s a look at the average student loan debt for some popular degrees:
Law Degree
$130,000 upon graduating
71% of law school students graduate in debt
Medical Degree
$216,659 upon graduating
70% of 2025 medical school graduates have education loan debt
Dental School
$296,500 upon graduating
82% take out student loans to pay for dental school
Nursing
Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN): $23,302
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN): $28,917
Master of Science in Nursing (MSN): $49,047
Almost 70% take out nursing student loans.
MBA
$76,996
57.8% of MBA holders have student loan debt
Architecture
Bachelor’s: $27,539
Master’s: $41,398
Veterinary Medicine
$182,957 for Professional Program graduates
83.4% graduate with debt
Pharmacy
$167,711 upon graduating
82.2% take out student loans
General Education
Associate: $11,481
Bachelor’s: $29,134
Master’s: $30,625
Doctoral: $85,454
Communication and Media Studies
Associate: $11,108
Bachelor’s: $23,743
Master’s: $40,859
Doctoral: $139,361
Associate Degree Debt by Major
Below is the average debt of students graduating with an associate degree based on major, per the Education Data Initiative:
• Alternative and Complementary Medicine and Medical Systems: $40,092
• Computer Systems Analysis: $29,054
• Behavioral Sciences: $22,7439
• Construction Management: $20,209
• Marketing: $17,301
• Animal Sciences: $13,219
• Engineering, General: $10,716
• Biological and Physical Sciences: $7,898
Bachelor’s Degree Debt by Major
Below is the average debt of students graduating with a bachelor’s degree based on major, per the Education Data Initiative:
• Behavioral Sciences: $44,454
• Computer Programming: $29,742
• Music: $27,676
• Architecture: $27,539
• Construction Engineering: $27,808
• Social Work: $25,869
• Accounting and Related Services: $25,060
• Economics: $20,700
• Human Biology: $18,722
• Science Technologies/Technicians, General: $9,915
Master’s Degree Debt by Major
Below is the average debt of students graduating with a master’s degree based on major, per the Education Data Initiative:
• Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences: $164,553
• General Sales: $108,884
• Real Estate Development: $100,948
• Landscape Architecture: $83,662
• International Business: $67,684
• Public Health: $50,697
• Engineering Science: $47,743
• Insurance: $45,164
• Construction Management: $39,142
• Engineering, General: $34,580
Doctoral Degree Debt by Major
Below is the average debt of students graduating with a doctoral degree based on major, per the Education Data Initiative:
• Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration: $322,885
• Psychology, Other: $195,402
• Public Administration: $152,109
• Health and Medical Administration Services: $105,699
• Biology, General: $44,614
Federal vs Private Student Loan Debt
As these student loan debt statistics show, the rising cost of attending college can be a heavy financial burden for many Americans. And because there are limits on how much students can borrow in federal loans each year, many turn to private student loans to help cover their education bills.
The national private student loan balance totaled $167.38B in the third quarter of 2025, according to the Education Data Initiative, which says 89.9% of that balance is in undergraduate loans and 10.7% is in graduate student loans.
Private student loans comprise only about 7.3% of the overall outstanding student loan debt in the United States, but the number of students taking out private loans is increasing. The private student loan market has continued to grow in absolute dollars from the early 2020s into 2025.
Recommended: Private Student Loans vs. Federal Student Loans
The Takeaway
No matter what your major is, there’s a good chance you may have to take on some debt to get the education you need and want. And the final bill could be substantial: The average federal loan debt balance is $39,547 per borrower, but if you choose a major that requires a graduate degree, it could be two or three times that amount or more.
Most student borrowers use federal loans to help pay for their education. But a combination of federal and private loans may be necessary to cover all your costs.
If you’ve exhausted all federal student aid options, no-fee private student loans from SoFi can help you pay for school. The online application process is easy, and you can see rates and terms in just minutes. Repayment plans are flexible, so you can find an option that works for your financial plan and budget.
FAQ
How much student loan debt is there in the United States?
According to the Federal Reserve’s most recent numbers, outstanding U.S. student loan debt reached $1.84T in the fourth quarter of 2025.
What is the average US student loan debt per student?
According to the Education Data Initiative, the average federal student loan debt balance is $39,547 per borrower. If you include private loan debt, the average balance may be as high as $43,333.
Who owns the most student debt?
The federal government — more specifically, the U.S. Department of Education — owns about 90.9% of all student loan debt in America.
Photo credit: iStock/FabrikaCr
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