Statistics in Brief publications present descriptive data in tabular formats to provide useful information to a broad audience, including members of the general public. They address simple and topical issues and questions. Using data from 2011-12, this Statistics in Brief updates and expands on a previous National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) study (Woo 2011). The previous report used data from 2003-04 and 2007-08 to examine the increase in the use of private education loans by both undergraduate and graduate students. These are loans from private sources that are not part of the federal loan programs. Data from 2011-12 provide the most recent information available on college and graduate students' patterns of borrowing, which are the focus of this report. This update examines the following questions: (1) To what extent did the use of private student loans among under-graduates change from 200304 to 2011-12, and how did these changes compare with the use of federal loans?; (2) Did changes in under-graduates' use of private student loans between 2003-04 and 2011-12 differ by type of institution, tuition amount, or income level?; and (3) Did the use of private student loans among graduate students change from 2003-04 to 2011-12, and how did these changes compare with the use of federal loans? Key findings include: (1) After peaking in 2007-08 at 14 percent, the percentage of undergraduate students who borrowed from private sources dropped by about half in 2011-12 to 6 percent (figure 1). In contrast, borrowing from the federal government through the Stafford Loan Program increased from 35 percent to 40 percent; (2) The decrease in the rate of borrowing from private sources between 2007-08 and 2011-12 occurred among students in all types of institutions, regardless of the amount of tuition that institutions charged, and across all income levels (figures 4-6); and (3)Similar to undergraduates, the percentage of graduate students who borrowed from private sources declined between 2007-08 and 2011-12 (table 2). However, the average amount borrowed through private loans was not statistically different between the two time periods (table 3). Appended are: (1) Data Tables; and (2) Standard Error Tables. (To access "The Expansion of Private Loans in Postsecondary Education. Stats in Brief. NCES 2012-184" see ED524805.)