Student Loan Debt by Loan Type

Federal Student Aid’s current federal student loan portfolio reporting covers June 30, 2026. The portfolio held more than $1.7 trillion in outstanding federal student loans across 42.3 million recipients. Federal Student Aid’s Portfolio by Loan Type data separates that debt into categories including subsidized Stafford, unsubsidized Stafford, consolidation, Grad PLUS, Parent PLUS, and Perkins loans.

The June 2026 reporting period replaces the March 31, 2026 snapshot previously used for the detailed loan-type figures on this page. Loan-type recipient counts can overlap because one person may hold more than one type of federal loan, while the 42.3 million portfolio total is an unduplicated count of recipients with outstanding federal student loans.

Federal Student Loan Debt by Loan Type

Federal Student Aid reports federal debt by both loan type and loan program. These are different classifications. Loan types describe the form of the debt, such as Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized, consolidation, Grad PLUS, Parent PLUS, or Perkins loans. Loan programs describe the federal program under which the debt is held, primarily the Direct Loan Program, FFEL Program, and Perkins Loan Program.

Stafford Debt Includes Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans

Federal Student Aid’s portfolio reporting separates subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford debt and also provides a combined Stafford category. The combined row is not an additional pool of debt. It combines the balances represented in the subsidized and unsubsidized categories and provides an unduplicated recipient count for borrowers holding either type.

Adding the Stafford combined balance to the subsidized and unsubsidized component balances would therefore double-count the same debt.

Subsidized Stafford Debt

Direct Subsidized Loans are available to eligible undergraduate students with financial need. The federal government covers interest during certain periods specified by the program, including qualifying in-school and grace periods and certain deferments.

Outstanding subsidized debt in the federal portfolio includes loans from multiple repayment cohorts, so the balance is not a measure of how much students borrowed during the 2026–27 academic year.

Unsubsidized Stafford Debt

Direct Unsubsidized Loans are available without a financial-need requirement. They can be made to undergraduate students and, subject to the federal borrowing rules that apply to their enrollment period, graduate and professional students. Interest generally accrues while the loan is outstanding, including during periods when payment is not required.

Federal portfolio balances include loans issued across many years. The outstanding unsubsidized balance therefore reflects accumulated debt remaining in the portfolio rather than new lending during a single academic year.

Consolidation Debt Represents Previously Issued Federal Loans

A Direct Consolidation Loan replaces one or more eligible existing federal student loans with a new consolidation loan. Debt reported in the consolidation category should not be interpreted as newly financed education costs. It represents federal debt that remains outstanding after the underlying eligible loans were consolidated.

This distinction also matters when comparing consolidation with Stafford or PLUS debt. Once qualifying loans are consolidated, the resulting balance is reported as consolidation debt rather than continuing to appear as the original underlying loan types in the same form.

Grad PLUS and Parent PLUS Debt Cover Different Borrowers

Grad PLUS and Parent PLUS balances should be kept separate because the borrower populations are different. Grad PLUS debt is associated with graduate and professional student borrowers, while Parent PLUS loans are obligations of parents who borrowed for dependent undergraduate students.

Federal rules for new graduate and professional borrowing changed beginning July 1, 2026, including the general end of new Grad PLUS borrowing outside applicable transition provisions. Existing Grad PLUS balances remain part of the federal portfolio while those loans continue through repayment, forgiveness, discharge, consolidation, or other resolution.

Perkins Loans Are a Residual Part of the Federal Portfolio

The Federal Perkins Loan Program stopped making new loans after September 2017, but outstanding Perkins balances remain in federal portfolio statistics while loans continue to be repaid, canceled, discharged, or otherwise resolved.

Federal Student Aid reported that Perkins loans represented less than one-sixth of 1% of the outstanding federal student loan portfolio as of June 30, 2026.

Federal Debt Is Concentrated in the Direct Loan Program

Federal Student Aid’s June 30, 2026 portfolio shows that nearly 91% of outstanding federal student loan debt was in the Direct Loan Program. The FFEL Program accounted for 9%, while Perkins loans represented less than one-sixth of 1%.

Data Notes

• The reporting period used for current federal portfolio figures on this page is June 30, 2026.
• Federal Student Aid reported more than $1.7 trillion in outstanding federal student loans across 42.3 million recipients for that reporting period.
• Outstanding portfolio balances include principal and interest reported in Federal Student Aid’s portfolio data.
• The federal portfolio total does not include private student loans.
• Loan-type recipient counts can overlap because a recipient can hold more than one type of federal loan. They should not be summed to calculate the number of unique federal borrowers.
• The 42.3 million portfolio recipient count is the federal portfolio total reported for June 30, 2026.
• The Stafford combined category is not an additional loan type to add to subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford balances. It combines those categories and provides an unduplicated recipient measure for borrowers with Stafford debt.
• Direct Loan, FFEL, and Perkins program shares are rounded values reported by Federal Student Aid for the June 30, 2026 portfolio.
• Federal Student Aid’s Portfolio by Loan Type workbook is the source for the detailed June 30, 2026 loan-type balance and recipient series. March 31, 2026 loan-type values are not carried forward as current June values.

Sources

• Federal Student Aid Portfolio — U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid; current federal portfolio reports, loan-type data, recipient counts, balances, and program classifications through June 30, 2026.
• Federal Student Aid Portfolio by Loan Type — U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid; official downloadable loan-type portfolio workbook.
• Federal Student Aid Posts Updated Reports to FSA Data Center — Federal Student Aid, September 22, 2026; confirms portfolio reporting through June 30, 2026, 42.3 million recipients, more than $1.7 trillion outstanding, and current Direct, FFEL, and Perkins program shares.
• Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized Loans — Federal Student Aid; definitions, eligibility, interest treatment, and Stafford naming context.
• Compare Student Loan Repayment Plans With Our Student Loan Calculator — Federal Student Aid; Direct Consolidation Loan definition.