Some 43 million Americans owe about $1.3 trillion in student loan debt. And the borrowing trend keeps climbing. Graduates in 2016 will owe an average of more than $37,000 for their college educations — 6 percent more than the previous year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The higher loan amounts are making it harder for students to pay back what they’ve borrowed. Nearly 12 percent of student loans are delinquent, the bank says. READ MORE.