The student loans that undergraduates took out to pay for educational expenses in 1999–2000 may only represent a portion of the cumulative amount that they had borrowed for their undergraduate education. Among all undergraduates enrolled in postsecondary education, 42 percent had borrowed through the federal student loan programs at some time, either in that academic year or in prior years, with an average cumulative amount of $9,900. Among the seniors who received a bachelor’s degree at any 4-year institution in 1999–2000, 62 percent had taken out a federal student loan at some time, and for those students, the average cumulative amount was $16,900.

While only 7 percent of all public 2-year undergraduates took out a federal student loan in 1999–2000 (borrowing an average of $3,100), 23 percent had taken out a federal student loan at some time, either in the 1999–2000 academic year or earlier, borrowing a cumulative amount of $6,300, on average. Many students had already repaid their federal loans, probably because they had borrowed only in prior years and had spells in which they were not enrolled; 17 percent still had outstanding federal loan debts.

About one-half (52 percent) of all undergraduates attending public 4-year institutions in 1999–2000 had borrowed through the federal student loan programs at some time, averaging a cumulative amount of $11,000 in federal loans. Sixty percent of those who attained a bachelor’s degree at a public 4-year institution in 1999–2000 had taken out a federal student loan at some time as an undergraduate, with a cumulative average of $16,100 in federal loans.

At private not-for-profit 4-year institutions, 61 percent of the undergraduates had received a federal student loan at some time, with a cumulative average of $12,000. About two-thirds (66 percent) of the graduating seniors at private not-for-profit 4-year institutions had borrowed through the federal student loan programs as an undergraduate, having received $18,000, on average, by the completion of their bachelor’s degrees.