Student loan debt in South Korea is hardening into a burden for middle-aged borrowers rather than a young person's problem. More than eight out of 10 borrowers who have failed to make payments for six months or longer are in their 30s or older.
According to data on long-overdue general repayment student loans submitted by the Korea Student Aid Foundation to Rep. Han Byeong-do of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee, 50,101 borrowers were more than six months behind on payments as of the end of July, with 272.3 billion won ($196 million) in overdue balances.
By age, borrowers in their 30s accounted for the largest share at 24,061, or 48.0%, followed by those aged 40 and over at 18,993, or 37.9%, and those in their 20s at 7,047, or 14.1%. Combined, borrowers aged 30 and over made up 85.9% of the total.
The overdue balances grow heavier with age. Borrowers aged 40 and over held 134.3 billion won in overdue debt, or 49.3% of the total, followed by those in their 30s with 115.4 billion won, or 42.4%, and those in their 20s with 22.6 billion won, or 8.3%. Borrowers aged 30 and over carried 91.7% of all overdue debt.
Average overdue debt per borrower also widens with age, standing at 3.21 million won for those in their 20s, 4.80 million won for those in their 30s and 7.07 million won for those aged 40 and over. The per-borrower figure for those aged 40 and over is 2.2 times that of borrowers in their 20s. A total of 31,196 borrowers have been unable to repay for three years or more.
Money Borrowed in College, Still Unpaid in Their 40s
The foundation faces pressure from both directions, as long-overdue debt piles up faster while collections slow. Annual additions to long-overdue loans rose 63.7% to 56.8 billion won in both 2024 and 2025 from 34.7 billion won in 2022. Annual collections fell 9.0% over the same period to 29.2 billion won from 32.1 billion won.
The Korea Student Aid Foundation has been in talks with the Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of Education since July last year to sell the long-overdue loans to the New Start Fund run by the Korea Asset Management Corporation, or KAMCO. But the planned sale covers only about 3,800 borrowers, far short of the roughly 50,000 borrowers in arrears, critics say.
Han said student loan debt is not a problem that ends in a borrower's youth, adding that the government should draw up a debt restructuring road map covering all 50,000 borrowers rather than stopping at the 3,800 slated for the New Start Fund sale.
