Americans owe over $1.48 trillion in student loans, spread out among 44 million borrowers. This student loan debt problem is only getting worst as Gen Z enters college with nearly 40% of these borrowers unsure if they can pay back their student loan debt.

A study which surveyed 850 Gen Z students at a four-year university who hold student loan debt, found that this particular demographic may be less than prepared to handle their debt after graduation. About half of the Gen Z students surveyed believed that they will receive some type of assistance from the government for student loan forgiveness when in reality, only less than 10% of borrowers actually will. In addition, about 3/5 of borrowers mistakenly believed it was possible to refinance their student loan debt with the federal government. Although it is not possible to “refinance” student loans with the government, there are over 60 federal programs out there that can help lower your payment or shorten your loan term. The advisors at Higher Level Processing specialize in helping you find the best program to suit your current situation.

Gen Z is even more clueless when it comes to understanding how student loans work. Over half of borrowers are unsure about which loans accrue interest, 32.24% of borrowers have never looked at their student loan account and 19.7% were unsure if they carried any private student loans.

As the student loan debt crisis continues to grow, the housing marketing may continue to worsen as people continue to put off purchasing a home due to the inability to pay back student loan debt.