As student loan forgiveness looms, half of college students are already behind in trying to complete a bachelor's degree in even 5 years, a study says

A study released last month showed that half of college students are not on track to complete a bachelor's degree in 10 semesters.

• A study shows half of college students fall behind in their first year to graduate in 4 years.
• There is a gap among gender as well as racial/ethnic groups.
• The average student isn't on track to complete a degree in even 5 years.

We may have found another datapoint to explain the high cost of college: It's taking students longer to finish.

A new study released last month by the National Student Clearinghouse found that only 51% of full-time college students earned even 24 or more credits in their first year. Generally, an undergraduate degree can be earned in about 120 credits at many institutions, meaning a steady 15-credit-per-semester cycle would earn you a graduate degree in 8 semesters, or 4 years.

But the study found that only fewer than a third (28%) of students earned at least 30 hours of credit, meaning that more than 70% are already off track to finish in 4 years after their freshman year.

What's more, the average full-time student attempted fewer than 27 credits in their first year — and earned fewer than 22 credits. Because of existing completion rates, the study said, "this means the average full-time student is not on track to complete a bachelor's degree even in five years."

A couple of caveats: the study did find wide disparities in attempting and earning credits across gender types, as well as racial and ethnic groups. The study noted that the percent of Asian students earning 30 or more credits in their first year was more than double the share of African American students.

But other potential reasons for the differences didn't pan out: the study found no significant change in first-year credit progress between transfer and nontransfer students, and the same was true for age — in fact, students over the age of 24 made, on average, lower first-year progress on earning credits compared to their younger counterparts.

All of this data comes amid the backdrop of a US Department of Education plan to potentially forgive some loans for millions of borrowers, though progress continues to be murky. As Politico reported, President Biden is considering executive action of $10,000 debt relief per borrower.

A Forbes article recently reported that US student loan borrower between the ages of 25 and 34 carry a combined $500,000 in debt, the majority of them holding between $10,000 and $40,000 each.