Student Loan Debt Owed to Federal Government Up 463% Under Obama

(CNSNews.com) -- Since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, the amount of outstanding federal student loan debt owed to the government has skyrocketed, increasing by 463 percent. The balance owed currently stands at $674,580,000,000.00 compared to $119,803,000,000.00, where it stood in January 2009, according to the Financial Management Service’s latest monthly treasury statement.

Student Loan Inforgraphic. (Ali Meyer/CNSNews.com)

Direct federal student loan spending began to rise rapidly in fiscal year 2010, when the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act – one of the two laws that make up Obamacare -- gave the federal government complete control over federal loans for education, the Direct Student Loan (DL) program.  This aspect of HCERA became effective July 1, 2010, when the amount of outstanding loans stood at $178,806,000,000. Since then, the balance has increased by 277 percent.

“Under the DL program, the federal government essentially serves as the banker – it provides the loans to students and their families using federal capital (i.e., funds from the U.S. Treasury, and it owns the loans,” explained the Congressional Research Service.

During President George W. Bush’s time in office, the amount of outstanding loans increased from $67,979,000,000 in January of 2001 to $119,803,000,000 in January of 2009, an increase of 76 percent. This means that under President Obama the amount of federal direct student loans increased 509 percent more than under President Bush.

Direct-loan financing increased more than seven-fold over the last decade (2003-2013) with the amount of outstanding student loans standing at $90,795,000,000 in September of 2003.