Final answer:
The average student loan borrower has $37,172 in student loans. Rounding the average student debt to the nearest ten-thousand gives us $30,000.
Step-by-step explanation:
The average student loan borrower has $37,172 in student loans. To round this average student debt to the nearest ten-thousand, we look at the digit in the ten-thousand place, which is the second digit from the right.
The digit in the ten-thousand place is 3, which is less than 5. Therefore, we round down to the nearest ten-thousand, which is $30,000.
So, the correct answer is $30,000 (option b).