A new study revealed that since 2003, the percentage of 25-year-olds who carry student debt rose from 25% to 43%, and the average balance nearly doubled, reaching $20,326 in 2012. This burgeoning student loan debt could be crowding out the other investments young adults typically make.

According to NBC News, after the recession hit, the number of 30-year-olds with mortgages — used as a proxy for home ownership by researchers because so few young adults have the means to buy their homes outright — plummeted, but the drop among those with student loan debt was steeper. And by last year, the rate at which student loan debtors held mortgages was about two percentage points lower than their peers without student loans.