If misery loves company, then new college graduates facing a mountain of student loan debt may find comfort in this group of public figures who have borrowed to pay for college. They’ve done everything from taking on six figures in parent loans to defaulting on their college debt. Here’s what they’ve said about paying down their student loans — and what borrowers can learn from their experiences.
[Read: Best Private Student Loans.]
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Patrick Ball
How you know him: HBO Max’s “The Pitt”
School:Yale School of Drama
In his words: “I paid off my student loans like three months into “The Pitt,” and that was a really profound moment ’cause I thought I was gonna die with it,” Ball said in a 2026 “Cultured” interview. “It’s a huge burden to carry, and a lot of people carry it. I was $80,000 in debt and I had been through a series of failed relationships where my financial insecurity was a real problem.”
Takeaway: Student loan debt doesn’t just affect finances. Strained relationships, career finances and personal decisions are worth factoring when considering how much to borrow.
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Ryan Coogler
How you know him: Director of “Black Panther” and “Sinners”
School:University of Southern California
In his words: “I was $200,000 in debt for film school. It was bad,” Ryan Coogler shared in 2026 on the “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast. “We don’t come from no money.”
Takeaway: Even highly successful careers can begin with significant student debt. Be cautious about taking on large loan balances, especially in fields with unpredictable income.
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Ilhan Omar
How you know her: Representative for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District
School:North Dakota State University
In her words: “I am a working mom with student loan debt,” Oman said on X in 2025 after an X user criticized her finances. “Unlike some of my colleagues — and similar to most Americans — I am not a millionaire and am raising a family while maintaining a residence in both Minneapolis and D.C., which are among the most expensive housing markets in the country.”
Takeaway: A high income doesn’t make student loans disappear. Expensive housing markets and family costs can keep debt in the picture longer than you might expect.
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Natasha Rothwell
How you know her: HBO Max’s “The White Lotus”
School:University of Maryland
In her words: “I wrote a check to myself for like $40,000, because that would pay off my student loans, or a portion of it, and I just carried it around with me in my wallet while I was broke, picking up Metrocards in New York, and hoping one of them could get me home,” Rothwell shared in a 2025 CNN interview. “And it was just, I was like, ‘One day, I am gonna be able to cash this check and pay off (my loans).’ And I just remember, when I was on the phone with Sallie Mae and closing out my account, and I had that check in my hand.”
Takeaway: Having a concrete goal — even if it’s symbolic — can help borrowers stay motivated over a long repayment timeline.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
How you know her: Representative for New York’s 14th Congressional District
School:Boston University
In her words: “I have student loans, too,” Ocasio-Cortez said during a 2019 press conference. “I think it’s so funny, a year ago, I was waiting tables in a restaurant and it was literally easier for me to become the youngest woman in American history elected to Congress than it is to pay off my student loan debt.”
Takeaway: Ocasio-Cortez noted that her student loan debt previously made it more difficult to afford things like health care. Consider the ways borrowing can affect one’s life plans, such as the goal of buying a home.
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Barack Obama
How you know him: Former president of the United States
Schools: Occidental College, Columbia University, Harvard Law School
In his words: “I was in my 40s when we finished paying off our debt,” Obama said during a speech at the University at Buffalo–SUNY in 2013. “And (Michelle and I) should have been saving for Malia and Sasha by that time.”
Takeaway: Student borrowers with children must weigh paying down their own debt versus saving for their children’s education. One resource: a tax-advantaged 529 plan.
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Cheryl Strayed
How you know her: New York Times bestselling author of “Wild,” which was adapted into the 2014 movie starring Reese Witherspoon
School: University of Minnesota, Syracuse University
In her words: “Here’s another thing that’s so interesting about money that people never talk about: there are all these invisible advantages and privileges people have,” Strayed said in a 2017 published interview. “Parents who help out with a down payment, or a grandparent who takes the kids every Tuesday. Parents who pay for college. We didn’t have any of that. I also had student loan debt from my undergraduate degree that I finally paid off on my 44th birthday, thanks to ‘Wild.'”
Takeaway: Like Strayed, it can take years for borrowers to pay off federal or private student loans. But implementing strategies such as using credit card reward points can expedite the process.
[Read: Best Student Loan Refinance Lenders.]
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Finesse Mitchell
How you know him: “Saturday Night Live,” 2003-2006
School: University of Miami
In his words: “I do know a lot about bill collectors,” Mitchell said in 2004 on “Saturday Night Live.” “So, right now I’m speaking on behalf of all the people who ever took out a student loan for college, when I say, ‘Back up off me, Student CitiBank!’ Back up! Cause I know I’m late on my payments.”
Takeaway: Dodging collectors can result in a host of negative consequences, including default, wage garnishment and loss of a driver’s license.
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Gabrielle Union
How you know her: Movies like “Bring It On” and BET’s “Being Mary Jane”
School: University of California, Los Angeles
In her words: “I want people to know the work that it took to get through UCLA, that I had student loans and worked,” Union said in a 2015 interview. “I was eating Top Ramen and lived well below my means. Now that it’s time to get married to a man who happens to play basketball and has done well for himself, I want to make it clear that I have in no way hitched my wagon to his star. I have my own wagon and star.”
Takeaway: Working during college can help students avoid taking on excessive debt. Consider participating in a federal work study program or taking on a part-time job that pay for college.
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Gina Rodriguez
How you know her: Netflix’s “Someone Great” and The CW’s “Jane the Virgin”
School:New York University
In her words: “Yeah dude … I just paid it off,” Rodriguez said during a 2017 interview on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” during which the host noted it took the actress more than 10 years to repay her student loan debt. “College education is so expensive, but it’s so necessary. I would never change it for the world but yes, it took me way too long.”
Takeaway: Sometimes it takes longer than anticipated to repay student loans. To stay on track, keep a detailed spending plan and focus on paying down the principal.
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Jane Lynch
How you know her: Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” and Fox’s “Glee”
Schools: Illinois State University, Cornell University
In her words: “I went to a public university that my parents helped pay for, and we supplemented with student loans,” Lynch said in a 2012 interview. “And I was out of debt by the time I was 30. And I deferred a few times.”
Takeaway: Borrowers can take a page out of Lynch’s songbook. Her savvy college cost moves included attending an in-state university, postponing payments instead of defaulting, and quickly repaying her loans.
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Jon Hamm
How you know him: Apple TV’s “Your Friends and Neighbors” and AMC’s “Mad Men”
School:University of Missouri
In his words: “I went to three universities in four years, and I had no financial aid at all,” Hamm said during a 2014 rally for Sen. Al Franken held at the University of Minnesota Duluth. “It wasn’t that long ago I was dealing with the stuff you guys are dealing with.”
Takeaway: Hamm empathized with students, saying accessibility to higher education should be improved and noting that he wasn’t able to pay off his student loan debt until he started landing acting jobs more than 10 years after he graduated. He encouraged students to vote, noting the power of elections to affect college affordability.
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Kate Walsh
How you know her: ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”
School:University of Arizona
In her words: “I am a person who came out of college with, oh, jeez, just thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars in debt,” Walsh said in a 2016 interview. “And the only way I was, honestly, able to pay off my student loans was at age 37, because I happened to get on a big, fat TV show called ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ and I was able to finally pay my student loan debt. And that’s insane — it was just interest accruing and accruing and accruing. And that just shouldn’t be the price tag of trying to get an education in this country.”
Takeaway: The cost of college is significant and rising: The average tuition and fees at private ranked National Universities have jumped 112% from 2006 to 2016, according to U.S. News data. But keep in mind these costs are just sticker prices — the price advertised by colleges before financial aid is applied.
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Kerry Washington
How you know her: Apple TV’s “Imperfect Women” and ABC’s “Scandal”
School: George Washington University
In her words: “I’m here, not just as an actress, but as a woman, an African American, a granddaughter of Ellis Island immigrants, a person who could not have afforded college without the help of student loans,” Washington said during a 2012 speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Takeaway: The average net price for federal loan recipients at GW was $34,462, per U.S. News data, so Washington isn’t alone. But student loans help borrowers afford college, establish credit and, if they are federally backed, come with some generous repayment options.
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Kevin Bozeman
How you know him: Stand-up comic with appearances on Comedy Central, NBC and Fox
School:University of Wisconsin–Whitewater
In his words: “I got one thing out of college: bad credit. That was all I got — some student loans, man. I didn’t know they wanted you to pay that back. I thought that was only if you graduated.”
Takeaway: At one point, he says, he had his wages garnished. He later enrolled in a repayment plan. “I just felt like it’d hovered over my head long enough,” he told U.S. News in 2015.
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Marco Rubio
How you know him: U.S. Secretary of State and former Florida senator
Schools: Tarkio College, University of Florida, University of Miami Law School
In his words: “The only reason why I was able to go to college was because of federal grants and loans,” Rubio said in a 2012 speech. “But when I graduated from law school, I had close to $150,000 in student debt.”
Takeaway: Attending public in-state colleges can be a cost-conscious move. The average cost of in-state tuition and fees at ranked public schools in 2025-2026 is $11,371, according to U.S. News data.
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Martin O’Malley
How you know him: Maryland’s former governor and former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration of the United States
Schools his daughters attended: Georgetown University, College of Charleston
In his words: The O’Malley family borrowed around $339,200 in mostly Parent PLUS loans. “I wanted (my daughters) to go in-state,” O’Malley said in 2015. “But I lost the vote.”
Takeaway: Parent PLUS loans used to available up to the full cost of attendance, minus other aid. This allowed parents, just like the O’Malley family, to get into trouble and incur massive amounts of debt. Changes to the Federal student loan program that go into effect on July 1, 2026 cap Parent PLUS loans at $20,000 per year with a $65,000 aggregate limit.
[Read: Best Parent Student Loans: Parent PLUS and Private.]
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Michelle Obama
How you know her: Former first lady of the United States
Schools: Princeton University, Harvard Law School
In her words: “The first thing was that I hated being a lawyer,” Obama wrote in “Becoming,” her 2018 memoir. “I wasn’t suited to the work. I felt empty doing it, even if I was plenty good at it. This was a distressing thing to admit, given how hard I’d worked and how in debt I was. In my blinding drive to excel, in my need to do things perfectly, I’d missed the signs and taken the wrong road.”
Takeaway: In addition to reviewing a school’s employment and salary statistics of its graduates, students should also consider their passion when choosing a major or career, experts say.
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Miles Teller
How you know him: Movies “Eternity,” “Fantastic Four” and “Divergent”
School: New York University
In his words: Teller told Vulture in 2015 that he borrowed $100,000 in student loans. “My business manager says the interest is so low, there’s no sense in paying them off. I can, if I want to have that badge of accomplishment, but until then I still very much have my NYU loans.”
Takeaway: Borrowing $100,000 for college was a risky move. Experts recommend borrowing no more than your expected first year’s salary.
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Pete Buttigieg
How you know him: Former U.S. Transportation Secretary and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana
School: Harvard University, Oxford University
In his words: “(My husband) Chasten is a teacher, so that involved getting a master’s degree, and between the teacher training programs he was in as well as his bachelor’s and master’s, it’s left us with a lot of debt,” Buttigieg said in 2019. “I had the great fortune of getting the Rhodes scholarship and was able to come through Harvard without a lot of debt. But between the two of us, we’re going to have to deal with a lot of debt.”
Takeaway: Student loan borrowers who work full time in the public or nonprofit service sector, like teachers, have the option to enroll in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. But with a complicated qualification process, experts advise caution.
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Roxane Gay
How you know her: New York Times bestselling author of “Bad Feminist” and “Hunger”
School: University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Michigan Technological University
In her words: “I took out my first student loans more than 20 years ago,” Gay wrote in a 2020 New York Times article. “I had dropped out of college just before the start of my junior year. I took a couple of years off, and when I went back I had to pay for my final two years myself. I understood the responsibility I was assuming, but I was working minimum wage jobs at the time — retail, telemarketing, bartending. Repayment seemed like a vague, distant concept in large part because I could not fathom being able to repay such staggering amounts of money. I went to graduate school and got two more degrees, and though those programs were funded, I took out student loans because it was impossible to live on the meager stipends we were given.”
Takeaway: Federal student loan payments were temporarily suspended under the the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, in March 2020. Payments officially resumed in October 2023.
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Ted Cruz
How you know him: Senator from Texas
Schools:Princeton University, Harvard Law School
In his words: “(I) took over $100,000 in school loans — loans I suspect a lot of y’all can relate to — loans that I’ll point out I just paid off a few years ago,” Cruz said in a 2015 speech announcing his presidential bid.
Takeaway: While Cruz didn’t say which school his debt is from in that speech, six-figure student loan debt is typical for law school grads.
More from U.S. News
10 Biggest Student Loan Repayment Mistakes
The Long-Term Cost of Income-Driven Repayment
More Students Will Soon Need Private Loans. 40% Won’t Qualify, Study Finds
22 Famous People Who Have ? or Had ? Student Loans originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 04/21/26: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
