Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District candidates have large student loan debts

Republican Jim Bridenstine owes the U.S. Education Department between $100,000 and $250,000 for a loan for graduate school, according to a financial disclosure report filed earlier this year.

Democrat John Olson owes between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Education Department, and his wife owes an amount in the same range, according to Olson's financial disclosure report; Olson owes up to $150,000 more in private student loans.

These days, it is not unusual to have student loan debt. A study released last week by the Pew Research Center says a record 19 percent of U.S. households had student loan debt in 2010; the figure was 40 percent for households headed by someone younger than 35. Olson is 35, and Bridenstine is 37.

The amount Olson and Bridenstine owe is extraordinary. According to the Pew report, 95 percent of the households with student debt owe less than $93,000.

In Congress, Olson and Bridenstine would be in a small club of lawmakers with student loan debt. According to a report by Bloomberg in June, only four current members reported student debt this year on their financial disclosure forms. Only one, Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, reported debt over $100,000.

The financial disclosure forms required of federal candidates and members of Congress allow for income, assets and debts to be reported in broad categories, so it's not clear how much more than $100,000 Bridenstine and Olson owe. And neither candidate would give a specific amount last week.

Referring to the combined student loan debt he and his wife carry, Olson said: “It's a lot, and it's something we'll have to deal with … There are things you certainly shave off your budget to make ends meet.”

Olson said the loans helped him pay for a master's degree and law degree at the University of Tulsa in a program that allowed him to receive both in 3½ years. A U.S. Army veteran and a member of the Military Police Corps, Olson used the G.I. Bill to pay for much of his undergraduate work, he said.