Trends in Student Aid: Highlights
Review highlights from the Trends in Student Aid 2026 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?
$285.8 billion: The total amount of aid that undergraduate and graduate students received in 2025-26 from all grants, federal loans, tax credits, and federal work-study.
Average aid per full-time equivalent (FTE) student in 2025-26 was:
- $17,420 per undergraduate student
- $30,230 per graduate student
Grant Aid
$184.4 billion: The total amount of grant aid received by undergraduate and graduate students in 2025-26.
Federal grant aid: In 2025-26, total federal grant aid was $58.5 billion including $39.5 billion in Pell Grants. Total Pell Grant expenditures reached its peak in 2010-11 at $52.7 billion (in 2025 dollars) and declined to $29.9 billion in 2022-23 (a 43% decline). Between 2022-23 and 2025-26, total Pell Grant expenditures increased by 32% (from $29.9 billion to $39.5 billion), after adjusting for inflation.
State grants: Between 2014-15 and 2024-25, average state grant aid per FTE undergraduate student increased from $1,000 to $1,390 in 2024 dollars. In 2024-25, average state grant aid per FTE undergraduate student ranged from under $200 in six states to over $2,000 in ten states.
Institutional grant aid: Between 2005-06 and 2015-16, institutional grant aid increased by 89% (in 2025 dollars), reaching a total of $74.2 billion in 2015-16. Over the last decade, institutional grant aid grew by an additional 20% to $88.9 billion in 2025-26.
Loans
$105.0 billion: The total amount that parents and students borrowed in federal and nonfederal loans to pay for postsecondary education in 2025-26.
- After declining by 38% over 13 years, from $168.2 billion (in 2025 dollars) in 2010-11 to $104.0 billion in 2023-24, total annual student and parent borrowing for postsecondary education was $105.0 billion in 2025-26.
Student Debt
$30,220: The average amount borrowed by 2024-25 bachelor’s degree recipients who took out loans to pay for college. It was $38,210 in 2014-15 and $35,350 in 2019-20 (in 2025 dollars).
As of March 2026, 31% 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.