The purpose of this study is to move beyond debates about income-contingency or non-income contingency as a means of loan repayment and focus on the specific nature of the debt burden facing students in different countries. In particular, it will explore how much students in different countries owe in student loan debt, the conditions governing loan repayment, and the proportion of students' post-graduation income needs to be devoted to repayment. The eight countries included in this comparison are: Australia, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom (England and Wales), and the United States. Details on each individual country's student loan debt management programs are included in this document as an appendix; the main document will look solely at key data in comparative perspective. (Contains 8 footnotes, 2 figures, and 8 tables.) [This document was published by the Educational Policy Institute.]