Politics- Nearly 360 high-ranking congressional staffers have
student loans . - About half would be debt-free if Democrats canceled $50,000 per borrower.
As part of the exhaustive Conflicted Congress project, Insider reviewed thousands of financial-disclosure reports for top-ranking staffers to determine whether they have student-loan debt — a topic of significant debate on Capitol Hill.
Here's what Insider discovered, by the numbers:
Overall
- Total number of House staffers (Legistorm estimate): 10,832
- Total number of Senate staffers: 6,804
- High-ranking House staffers who filed timely 2020-21
financial disclosures (Insider analysis): 1,223 - High-ranking Senate staffers who filed timely 2020-21 financial disclosures: 964
- Total high-ranking House and Senate staffers with outstanding student-loan debt: 356
- Total number of outstanding student loans (combined): 512
Financials
- Over $250,001 in student-loan debt: 44
- Between $100,001 and $250,000 in student-loan debt: 73
- Between $50,001 and $100,000 in student- loan debt: 71
- Between $15,001 and $50,000 in student-loan debt: 110
- Under $15,000 in student-loan debt: 51
- Longest-held student loan: 32 years
- Most student loans taken in a single year: 7 (2012)
- Most student loans carried by one person: 11 (2007-09)
- Longest gap between taking student loans: 18 years (1997, 2015)
- Borrowers taking multiple student loans in a single year: 38
- Borrowers taking student loans two or more years in a row: 33
- Lowest agreed-upon student-loan rate: 0.125% (30 years)
- Highest agreed-upon student-loan rate: 11.71% (15 years)
Existing student loans by decade
- 1980s: 1
- 1990s: 17
- 2000s: 197
- 2010s: 278
- 2020s: 18
Political alignment with student-loan debt
- House Democratic staffers: 120
- House Republican staffers: 88
- Nonpartisan committee staffers: 15
- Senate Democratic staffers: 63
- Senate Republican staffers: 70
- Works for House or Senate leaders: 38
- Works for a congressional committee with jurisdiction over student-debt relief: 23
Student-loan debtors by job title (in descending order of frequency)
- Chief of staff: 88
- Chief counsel: 27
- Professional staff: 27
- Deputy chief of staff: 17
- Legislative director: 17
- Counsel: 16
- Communications director: 13
- General counsel: 13
- Staff director: 12
- Senior advisor: 11
- Deputy staff director: 10
Student-loan debtors by state delegation (in descending order of frequency)
- California: 40
- New York: 20
- Michigan: 14
- Florida: 13
- Texas: 13
- North Carolina: 12
- Illinois: 11
- South Carolina:11
- Washington: 11
- Alabama: 10
- Georgia: 10
- Kentucky: 9
- Pennsylvania: 9
- Oregon: 8
- Virginia: 8
- Arizona: 7
- Iowa: 7
- Louisiana: 7
- New Jersey: 7
- Vermont: 7
- Idaho: 6
- Minnesota: 6
- Mississippi: 6
- Oklahoma: 6
- Wisconsin: 6
- Massachusetts: 5
- Missouri: 5
- Ohio: 5
- Tennessee: 5
- Colorado: 4
- Kansas: 4
- New Hampshire: 4
- New Mexico: 4
- Rhode Island: 4
- Utah: 4
- West Virginia: 4
- Connecticut: 3
- Delaware: 3
- Maryland: 3
- Montana: 3
- Nevada: 3
- South Dakota: 3
- Indiana: 2
- Maine: 2
- Nebraska: 2
- Alaska: 1
- Arkansas: 1
- Hawaii: 1
- North Dakota: 1
- Wyoming: 0
"High-ranking staffers" include congressional aides who earn at least $132,552 a year. Such staffers are required to file annual financial disclosures with congressional officials.
Those who earn less are not required to file such financial disclosures — meaning there could be thousands of additional student-loan-debt-laden staffers toiling on Capitol Hill.