Report Highlights. The average debt for a 4-year Bachelor’s degree is $34,100.
- The average 4-year Bachelor’s degree debt from a public college is $31,900.
- 65% of students seeking a Bachelor’s degree from a public 4-year college have student loan debt.
- The average 4-year Bachelor’s degree debt from a private for-profit college is $58,600.
- For private non-profit colleges, the average Bachelor’s degree debt is $34,300.
Related reports include Average Student Loan Debt | Total Student Loan Debt | Student Loan Debt by Race | Average Medical School Debt | Average Law School Debt
Public School 4-year Undergraduate Loan Debt
Students accrue less undergraduate loan debt from a public 4-year college than private schools because tuition is partially subsidized by state funding. Residents are given the cheapest tuition possible because resident taxpayer dollars go into funding state schools.
- The average 4-year Bachelor’s degree debt from a public college is $32,200.
- 58% of students seeking a Bachelor’s degree from a public 4-year college have student loan debt.
- 42% of students seeking a Bachelor’s degree from a public 4-year college have no student loan debt.
- 14% of Bachelor’s degree graduates who went to a public 4-year school owe over $40,000 in debt.
- 1 in 1,000 in-state public school Bachelor’s degree graduates will have $100,000 in student loan debt.
- 78% of students who graduate with a Bachelor’s degree from an in-state public school will have loan debt under $30,000.
| Year | Debt per Borrower | Debt per Graduate |
|---|---|---|
| 2004-2005 | $23,600 | $12,900 |
| 2009-2010 | $25,800 | $14,500 |
| 2014-2015 | $29,200 | $17,400 |
| 2019-2020 | $26,700 | $14,500 |
Private School 4-year Undergraduate Loan Debt
Students are saddled with more undergraduate loan debt from a private 4-year college because of the lack of state funding and tuition subsidization. Between private for-profit schools and private non-profit schools, Bachelor’s degree graduates typically accrue more debt at the for-profit schools.
- For private non-profit colleges, the average Bachelor’s degree debt is $34,300.
- The average 4-year Bachelor’s degree debt from a private for-profit college is $50,600.
- 20% of Bachelor’s degree graduates who went to a private non-profit 4-year school owe over $40,000 in debt.
- Roughly 50% of Bachelor’s degree graduates who went to a private for-profit 4-year school owed over $40,000 in debt.
- Private for-profit colleges award roughly 5% of the nation’s total annual Bachelor’s degrees.
| Year | Debt per Borrower | Debt per Graduate |
|---|---|---|
| 2004-2005 | $30,100 | $19,400 |
| 2009-2010 | $32,700 | $21,500 |
| 2014-2015 | $34,300 | $21,700 |
| 2019-2020 | $33,600 | $19,000 |
Public School vs Private School 4-year Undergraduate Loan Debt
This dataset comes from 2016 – before the 2020 pandemic suspension on student loan payments. Information about student loan debt from for-profit colleges is scarce. Only 3% of for-profit colleges release data about their student loan debt size.
- 83% of students from private for-profit 4-year colleges have student loan debt.
- Their student loan debt averaged $50,600.
- 30% of students with loans from for-profit colleges defaulted on their federal student loans within 12 years.
- 4% of students with loans from public colleges defaulted on their federal student loans within 12 years.
- 5% of students with loans from non-profit colleges defaulted on their federal student loans within 12 years.
Average 4-year Bachelor’s Degree Debt by State
The majority of the states with the highest levels of debt are located in the northeast. The low-debt states are primarily concentrated in the west. In 19 states the average debt was over $30,000 – 5 of them in particular had an average of over $35,000.
- Over the past 17 years, the student debt load has grown by twice the rate of inflation in 18 states.
- In 5 states, inflation outpaced the student debt load.
- New Hampshire has the highest average debt for students with a 4-year Bachelor’s degree – $39,930.
- Utah has the lowest average debt for students with a 4-year Bachelor’s degree – $18,344.
- At 73%, South Dakota is the state with the most amount of students in debt.
- At 39%, Utah is the state with the least amount of students in debt.
| State | Average Debt | Percent of Students with Debt |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $30,996 | 51% |
| Alaska | $26,356 | 47% |
| Arizona | $24,298 | 47% |
| Arkansas | $29,319 | 54% |
| California | $21,125 | 46% |
| Colorado | $26,424 | 49% |
| Connecticut | $35,853 | 57% |
| Delaware | $39,705 | 60% |
| District of Columbia | $32,966 | 46% |
| Florida | $24,454 | 47% |
| Georgia | $27,759 | 56% |
| Hawaii | $24,926 | 45% |
| Idaho | $24,983 | 58% |
| Illinois | $28,552 | 57% |
| Indiana | $28,521 | 57% |
| Iowa | $29,560 | 60% |
| Kansas | $26,002 | 60% |
| Kentucky | $28,356 | 61% |
| Louisiana | $26,284 | 53% |
| Maine | $32,764 | 63% |
| Maryland | $30,461 | 55% |
| Massachusetts | $33,457 | 56% |
| Michigan | $29,863 | 58% |
| Minnesota | $32,012 | 64% |
| Mississippi | $29,714 | 58% |
| Missouri | $28,713 | 56% |
| Montana | $27,114 | 55% |
| Nebraska | $26,781 | 60% |
| Nevada | $21,357 | 46% |
| New Hampshire | $39,928 | 70% |
| New Jersey | $35,117 | 63% |
| New Mexico | $20,868 | 45% |
| New York | $30,951 | 54% |
| North Carolina | $29,681 | 55% |
| North Dakota | $31,939 | 66% |
| Ohio | $30,605 | 59% |
| Oklahoma | $27,876 | 50% |
| Oregon | $26,504 | 53% |
| Pennsylvania | $39,375 | 64% |
| Rhode Island | $36,791 | 64% |
| South Carolina | $32,635 | 60% |
| South Dakota | $32,029 | 73% |
| Tennessee | $26,852 | 53% |
| Texas | $26,273 | 52% |
| Utah | $18,344 | 39% |
| Vermont | $34,866 | 57% |
| Virginia | $29,616 | 55% |
| Washington | $23,993 | 47% |
| West Virginia | $29,208 | 66% |
| Wisconsin | $30,270 | 63% |
| Wyoming | $23,510 | 48% |
Average 4-year Bachelor’s Degree Debt by Race
In 2016, on average 22.4% of Bachelor’s degree graduates experienced difficulty repaying their student loans 1 year after graduation. The moratorium on student debt payments in 2020 aided an estimated 88% of all borrowers. The suspension also halted delinquencies and default collections on outstanding debt. The data below only includes debt from federal loans.
- In 2016, 86% of Black borrowers averaged a student loan debt of $43,200.
- White graduates had on average $31,200 in student loan debt from 4-year Bachelor’s degrees.
- 66% of White graduates had student loan debt.
- Black graduates have nearly $10,100 more debt than White graduates.
- Black borrowers who were experiencing difficulty paying their debt averaged $42,250 in student loans.
- 68% of Hispanic graduates have student loan debt.
- Hispanic borrowers without difficulty paying off their Bachelor’s degree debt averaged $25,450 in loans.
- Hispanic borrowers who experienced hardship trying to pay off their Bachelor’s degree debt averaged $34,750 in loans.
- Hispanic graduates borrowed on average $31,900 for a 4-year Bachelor’s degree.
- 43% of Asian graduates had student loan debt.
- Asian graduates borrowed on average $28,200 for a 4-year Bachelor’s degree.
- The table below is the percentage of graduates from each race experiencing difficulty with their student loan debt 1 year after graduation.
Average 4-year Bachelor’s Degree Debt by Gender
Women tend to borrow more and have higher rates of student loan debt than men when pursuing their 4-year Bachelor’s degree. Among women, Black women assume the largest amounts of undergraduate debt.
- 70% of female students take out student loans to pay for their 4-year undergraduate education.
- 63% of male students take out student loans to pay for their 4-year undergraduate education.
- Annually, 44% of women will take out loans for their undergraduate degree.
- Annually, 39% of men will take out loans for their undergraduate degree.
- Women take on roughly $400 more in student debt annually compared to men.
- In 2012, 1/3rd or 34% of Black women who graduated with a Bachelor’s degree had more than $40,000 in student debt.
- In comparison, 16% of Hispanic women had that level of debt, 10% of White women, and 8% of Asian women.
Sources
- Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities: What is the typical debt load for graduates of four-year public universities?
- The Institute for College Access & Success Report: Student Debt and the Class of 2019 – 15th Annual Report October 2000
- Edmit: What is the average student loan debt? (Updated for 2020)
- Census Bureau: Student Debt Weighed Heavily on Millions Even Before Pandemic
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES): Question – What statistics do you have on student loan debt and repayment for college students?
- American Association of University Women: Deeper in Debt Women and Student Loans
- CollegeBoard: Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2020
- Brookings Institute: Who owes all that student debt? And who’d benefit if it were forgiven?
- NCES: One Year After A Bachelor’s Degree: A Profile of 2015-2016 graduates