Federal Student Loan Consolidation

•There is roughly somewhere between $902 billion and $1 trillion in total outstanding student loan debt in the United States today. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports $902B while the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau reports $1T.•Roughly $864 billion is outstanding federal student loan debt while the remaining $150 billion is in private student loans(Source: Consumer Finance Protection Bureau). Private student loans are not made or backed by the federal government.•As of Quarter 1 in 2012, the average student loan balance for all age groups is $24,301. About one-quarter of borrowers owe more than $28,000; 10% of borrowers owe more than $54,000; 3% owe more than $100,000; and less than 1%, or 167,000 people, owe more than $200,000. (Source: FRBNY)•In 2010‑11, about 57% of public four‑year college students graduated with debt. They had borrowed an average of $23,800 (in 2011 dollars). About two‑thirds of those earning bachelor’s degrees from private nonprofit institutions had debt averaging $29,900.(Source: College Board)•As of October 2012, the average amount of student loan debt for the Class of 2011 was $26,600, a 5 percent increase from approximately $25,350 in 2010. (Source: The Project on Student Debt)