Trends in Student Aid: Highlights
Review highlights from the Trends in Student Aid 2025 report. You can find the full report, Excel data, and PowerPoint presentation in the Resources section at the bottom of this page.
How Much Aid Are Students Getting?
$275.1 billion: The total amount of aid that undergraduate and graduate students received in 2024-25 from all grants, federal loans, tax credits, and federal work-study.
Average aid per full-time equivalent (FTE) student in 2024-25 was:
- $16,810 per undergraduate student
- $29,160 per graduate student
Grant Aid
$173.7 billion: The total amount of grant aid received by undergraduate and graduate students in 2024-25.
Federal grant aid: In 2024-25, total federal grant aid was $53.7 billion including $38.6 billion in Pell Grants. Total Pell Grant expenditures reached its peak in 2010-11 at $51.3 billion (in 2024 dollars) and declined to $29.2 billion in 2022-23 (43% decline). Between 2022-23 and 2024-25, total Pell Grant expenditures increased by 32% (from $29.2 billion to $38.6 billion), after adjusting for inflation.
State grants: Between 2013-14 and 2023-24, average state grant aid per FTE undergraduate student increased from $920 to $1,280 in 2023 dollars. In 2023-24, average state grant aid per FTE undergraduate student ranged from under $200 in six states to over $2,000 in nine states.
Institutional grant aid: Between 2004-05 and 2014-15, institutional grant aid increased by 91% (in 2024 dollars), reaching a total of $68.6 billion in 2014-15. Over the last decade, institutional grant aid grew by an additional 24% to $85.1 billion in 2024-25.
Loans
$102.6 billion: The total amount that parents and students borrowed in federal and nonfederal loans to pay for postsecondary education in 2024-25.
- After declining by 38% over 13 years, from $163.9 billion (in 2024 dollars) in 2010-11 to $101.4 billion in 2023-24, total annual borrowing increased to $102.6 billion in 2024-25 (1.2% year-over-year increase).
Student Debt
$29,560: The average amount borrowed by 2023-24 bachelor’s degree recipients who took out loans to pay for college. It was $35,600 in 2013-14 and $35,310 in 2018-19 (in 2023 dollars).
As of June 2025, 32% of borrowers owed less than $10,000 and 21% owed between $10,000 and $20,000 in federal loan debt. These borrowers held 4% and 8% of the outstanding federal debt, respectively.