Last Updated: December 8, 2023
By
Fact Checked
Report Highlights. The average debt for a 4-year Bachelor’s degree is $34,700.
- The average 4-year Bachelor’s degree debt from a public college is $32,714.
- 64% 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 $59,701.
- For private non-profit colleges, the average Bachelor’s degree debt is $34,956.
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 $32,829.
- 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.
- 4% of Bachelor’s degree graduates who went to a public 4-year school owe over $60,000 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.
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 $51,548.
- 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.
Average Bachelor Degree Debt at Private Nonprofit Colleges Year Debt per Borrower Debt per Graduate 2004-2005 $15,140 $27,700 2009-2010 $16,480 $29,900 2014-2015 $17,890 $32,100 2019-2020 $19,060 $29,100 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.
- 84% of students from private for-profit 4-year colleges have student loan debt.
- Their student loan debt averaged $51,548.
- 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 21 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 – $39,410.
- Utah has the lowest average debt for students with a 4-year Bachelor’s degree – $17,935.
- At 74%, South Dakota is the state with the most amount of students in debt.
- At 40%, Utah is the state with the least amount of students in debt.
Table of Average Bachelor’s Degree Debt per State State Average Debt Percent of Students with Debt Alabama $29,791 50% Alaska $25,925 48% Arizona $24,712 49% Arkansas $26,679 53% California $21,485 47% Colorado $26,562 50% Connecticut $38,546 56% Delaware $37,447 59% District of Columbia $32,039 46% Florida $24,629 48% Georgia $28,081 56% Hawaii $23,577 43% Idaho $25,942 60% Illinois $29,666 61% Indiana $28,112 59% Iowa $30,259 63% Kansas $26,788 60% Kentucky $28,482 58% Louisiana $25,512 48% Maine $33,591 67% Maryland $30,303 53% Massachusetts $33,256 55% Michigan $30,677 59% Minnesota $31,856 66% Mississippi $31,651 55% Missouri $28,740 57% Montana $27,265 57% Nebraska $26,026 57% Nevada $21,254 46% New Hampshire $39,410 74% New Jersey $33,566 64% New Mexico $20,991 45% New York $31,155 58% North Carolina $26,583 55% North Dakota $32,745 64% Ohio $29,886 60% Oklahoma $25,793 47% Oregon $27,542 54% Pennsylvania $39,027 65% Rhode Island $37,614 59% South Carolina $31,524 60% South Dakota $31,653 74% Tennessee $27,525 60% Texas $26,951 48% Utah $17,935 40% Vermont $30,566 60% Virginia $30,574 56% Washington $24,645 50% West Virginia $29,272 67% Wisconsin $31,550 64% Wyoming $23,444 46% Average 4-year Bachelor’s Degree Debt by Race
In 2016, on average 28% 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, 85% of Black borrowers averaged a student loan debt of $44,075.
- White graduates had on average $34,00 in student loan debt from 4-year Bachelor’s degrees.
- 66% of White graduates had student loan debt.
- Black graduates have nearly $10,258 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 $32,549 for a 4-year Bachelor’s degree.
- 43% of Asian graduates had student loan debt.
- Asian graduates borrow on average $22,700 for a 4-year Bachelor’s degree.
- The figure 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 $530 more in student debt annually compared to men.
- In 2012, 34% of Black women who graduated with a Bachelor’s degree had more than $50,000 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
- American Association of University Women: Deeper in Debt Women and Student Loans
- CollegeBoard: Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2022
- 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