The giant mountain of student loan debt keeps getting higher.
Total student loan debt grew to $1.41 trillion at the end of the first quarter, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Thursday, up $29 billion from the last count.
The growth in student debt came as part of a broader swell in household debt. Total debt hit $13.31 trillion, about half a trillion more than the previous peak in 2008, just as the mortgage bubble collapsed.
Growing credit is a good sign for the economy if it means families are borrowing safely to invest in their futures. In the wake of the recession, though, student loan balances soared along with delinquencies. A variety of factors contributed to large numbers of student borrowers falling behind on payments.
The good news from Thursday’s report is that delinquencies on student loan balances fell slightly. But with 10.7 percent of student loan balances 90 days overdue, student debt delinquency is significantly worse even than mortgages were during the subprime crisis.
The New York Fed’s data is based on a sample taken from the credit reporting agency Equifax.
