Student Loan Program Trends in the United States (2007–2025)
Written Report This project examines how federal student loan programs in the United States have changed over time, with a focus on borrowing amounts, the number of student recipients, and the growing cost burden on individual borrowers. Although student debt is often discussed as a single issue, most people are not aware that federal loans come from different programs, each with its own history and trends. The goal of this analysis is to understand which programs are expanding, which are disappearing, and whether students today are receiving more borrowed dollars per person than they did in the past. The idea for this project was influenced by several existing visual resources, including the Federal Student Aid dashboard, DataUSA’s educational finance reports, and journalist-designed college affordability graphics. These examples revealed how powerful visual storytelling can be in making complex financial data easier to understand. However, man...