1248 ET - A study from The Conference Board shows that federal deficits can affect students through interest rates. The study reflects a high school student who takes out a $45,000 federal loan to begin college in 2028 and another $30,000 loan for graduate school in 2032. The analysts highlight a range of scenarios, from a "good" case to a more extreme one-week government default scenario. Reducing deficits under the good-case scenario leads to a 2.7% decrease in student loan payments by roughly $14,000. Conversely, a one-week government default scenario causes an 8.7%--or about a $44,000--increase in student loan payments compared to the baseline scenario. In 1Q, Americans owed $1.87 trillion in Federal and private student loan debt, a 3.3% increase from 2025. "As the deficit interacts with interest rates for government bonds, all types of loans will eventually be affected," the analysts say.