Publication | November 17, 2021

Student Debt and the Class of 2020

Affordability Data, Evidence, and Information Student Aid Student Debt

TICAS’ sixteenth annual report on debt for bachelor’s degree graduates of public and nonprofit colleges, finds vast variation in debt levels across states as well as colleges.

Average student debt at graduation in 2020 ranged from $18,350 in Utah to $39,950 in New Hampshire, and new graduates’ likelihood of having debt varied from 39 percent in Utah to 73 percent in South Dakota. In nineteen states, average debt was more than $30,000, and it was over $35,000 in six states.