SoFi Blog

It’s that time of year again, when the leaves change, the weather turns a bit colder and summer vacation seems like a distant memory. And if you graduated from college or an advanced degree program last spring, your student loan vacation is over, too.

One of the scariest things about taking on a large student debt load is the fear of what might happen if you suddenly lose your job.  Not only would you have to deal with the stress of finding another one, but you’d have to figure out how to pay that big loan bill each month with no income.

New Year’s resolutions come and go, but student loans? Not so much. When next year rolls around, wouldn’t it be nice to see you’ve made a significant dent in your student debt—or have even decimated it completely?

More Americans than ever are taking out student loans to invest in their futures. And that’s leading to…a huge amount of debt across the nation. $1.3 trillion in fact. This year alone, college grads who have their bachelor’s degrees face an average of $37,000 in student debt. And, as of July, over seven million borrowers are in default.

So how to solve it all? Let’s start at the beginning. Scroll through the visual timeline below to see the highlights and lowlights of the past 80 years in student loan history.

Rest assured, there is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel (er…timeline).

Got student loans? We’ve got you covered with our Student Loan Smarts blog series. Our expert tips and hacks will help you save money, pay off loans sooner and stress less about student loan debt. Read the other posts in the series here—and get all the info you need to make intelligent decisions about your student loans. And while you’re at it, check out SoFi’s new Student Loan Debt Navigator tool to assess your student loan repayment options.

Student loans have a way of making you feel powerless. But the truth is, you have more control than you think. That’s what our Student Loan Smarts series is all about—helping you understand all of your options so you can make decisions that fit with your financial goals.

One of those options? Choosing to consolidate or refinance student loans. But what is consolidation, what is refinancing, and how do you know which one (if either) is right for you?