Right now, according to MarketWatch, there are  45 million student loan borrowers in the U.S. who each owe an average of $27,975 from education debt, with the national total adding up to $1.45 trillion. This is larger than the entire GDP of Mexico. Some have suggested that the answer to the problem is forgiving all student debt entirely  A recent economic study made this same claim, arguing that mass cancellation of all student loan debt in the U.S. would boost real GDP by $86 billion per year, reduce the unemployment rate by 0.22 to 0.36 percentage points over a 10-year forecast, and add between 1.2 million to 1.5 million new jobs per year. 

On an individual level, MarketWatch said that stress from student debt can be ameliorated by getting a better handle on regular payments, such as through refinancing to a better rate, developing a concrete repayment plan, changing how we feel about our debts, and celebrating small wins along the way.