Fears are overblown that increases in student debt are ravaging the finances of individual young adults and the economy at large, a Brookings study released Tuesday contends.

“Typical borrowers are no worse off than they were a generation ago. The borrowers struggling with high debt loads frequently featured in media coverage may not be part of a new or growing phenomenon,” the think tank concludes.

Students are graduating with very large debts at a higher rate than they did two decades ago, the researchers acknowledged. But they countered the problem is still quite rare.

In 2010, 7 percent of households with college debt had balances in excess of $50,000 and 2 percent had balances over $100,000, according to the study.

The report noted increases in the average lifetime incomes of Americans with college degrees have far outpaced rises in college debt.

Brookings researchers estimate that pay increase would pay for the additional student debt in 2.4 years.

They added the typical monthly payment on the debt by college grads has usually stayed the same or declined over the past two decades.

“The median borrower has consistently spent 3 to 4 percent of their monthly income on student loan payments since 1992,” said the report.