As a college student, you’ll no doubt hear about the massive rise in the average student loan debt. Rightfully so, you might get scared and overwhelmed at the idea of incurring a lot of debt. However, the amount of debt you’ll incur is based on factors like the type of loan you take out, the program you’re in, the type of school you go to, and more. Let’s explore these factors further and take a look at the debt averages.  

Average Student Loan Debt Overall 

First off, let’s get a quick overview of the average student loan debt here in the U.S. On average, according to a report done by the Education Data Initiative, graduates with student loans have a debt of about $37k. And, collectively, that adds up to trillions of dollars in student debt.

Average Student Debt $37,693
Average Student Monthly Payment $393
Total Student Loan Debt $1.75 trillion
Number of Student Loan Borrowers45.3 million borrowers

Average Student Loan Monthly Payment 

Next, let’s talk about monthly payments. Your monthly student loan payment is where you’ll feel the weight of your debt the most. But, there are different factors that go into calculating your payment, such as the length of the loan term, the principal amount, and your repayment plan. To give you an idea of how much money you’re looking at, here is the data on monthly payments.

Average Monthly Student Loan Payment$393
Median Monthly Student Loan Payment$250

Average Student Loan Debt: Federal vs Private 

Now, let’s get more into it. Your student debt will be affected by the types of loans you take out. The two biggest loan types are federal student loans and private student loans. Recently, private student loan debt has grown much faster than federal loan debt. The data here shows a difference of about $18,000 between the two.

Average Federal Student Loan Debt $36,510
Average Private Student Loan Debt $54,921

Average Student Loan Debt by State 

You’ll also want to think about where you’ll go to school. Most states’ student debt average falls in the $30,000-40,000 range. There are a few outliers, however. The District of Columbia, Georgia, and Maryland all have average debts higher than $40,000. Meanwhile, North Dakota and Puerto Rico have averages under $30,000.

Alabama$36,826
Alaska$33,083
Arizona$35,047
Arkansas$33,113
California$36,351
Colorado $36,610
Connecticut$34,677
Delaware$37,221
District of Columbia$54,983
Florida$38,160
Georgia $41,256
Hawaii$35,803
Idaho$32,425
Illinois $37,460
Iowa$30,381
Kansas$32,352
Kentucky$32,622
Louisiana$34,165
Maine$32,543
Maryland $42,592
Massachusetts$34,075
Michigan$34,819
Minnesota $33,252
Mississippi$36,508
Missouri $35,260
Montana$32,626
Nebraska $31,726
Nevada$33,573
New Hampshire$33,459
New Jersey$35,095
New Mexico $33,632
New York $37,639
North Carolina $37,217
North Dakota $28,402
Ohio$34,496
Oklahoma $31,376
Oregon$36,988
Pennsylvania$35,205
Puerto Rico$26,918
Rhode Island $31,954
South Carolina $38,063
South Dakota$30,946
Tennessee$36,035
Texas$32,671
Utah$32,150
Vermont$37,284
Virginia$38,903
Washington$35,117
West Virginia$31,532
Wisconsin$31,766
Wyoming$30,476

Average Student Loan Debt by School Type 

The type of school you attend will also contribute to how much debt you’ll have. Usually, public colleges are cheaper than private ones. Similarly, for-profit colleges are cheaper than non-profit schools. 

Public Institution$26,382
Private, Non-Profit Institution$37,971
Private, For-Profit Institution$21,244
Foreign Institution$90,500

Average Student Loan Debt by Degree

Different college degrees are going to cost you different amounts of money. Generally, the longer you have to be in school to get that degree, the more it’ll cost you. As you can see in the table below, the higher you go in your degree, the more money you’ll need. 

Bachelor’s Degree$28,400
Master’s Degree$71,318
Doctorate, Research$117,198
Law Degree$157,315
Doctorate, Professional $210,736
Medical Degree$265,996

Final Thoughts from the Nest

While a college education can get expensive and leave you with a lot of debt, many factors go into it. Knowing these factors will help you make a good decision about where you should go to school. 

Either way, debt can be hard to manage. So, you want to get good loans right off the bat. Sparrow can help with that. Sparrow partners with 15+ lenders that offer great private student loans. Fill out our Sparrow application to get matched with what you qualify for at each of these lenders. Let us take some of the weight so you can focus on getting your school diploma. 

*All data sourced from EducationData.

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