The average amount owed by Colorado residents is $36,822
This is the 16th largest average amount owed by borrowers in the country
It’s $965 less than the national average of $37,787
Colorado has the 21st most residents with student loan debt with a total of 774,000
This is 13.32% – the state with the 18th highest percentage of the population with some kind of student loan debt
52.20% of the borrowers are under the age of 35
How much student loan debt does the average Colorado resident have?
Colorado residents with student loan debt owe $36,822 on average
This is below the national average of $37,787 by $965 and just less than Oregon and Mississippi
It also places Colorado borrowers in 16th place when considering how much debt the average borrower takes on to get through college
The amounts owed by Colorado residents varies:
15.60% owe less than $5,000
22.10% owe between $20,000 and $40,000
2.20% owe more than $200,000
How much do Colorado residents borrow each year?
34.30% of undergraduates in the state of Colorado take federal student loans each year to help them get through college
At 2-year schools, 31.50% of students take out student loans
This is the 10th highest amount of any state in the country
At 4-year colleges, 35.40% of students take out student loans
Normally, the rate of 2-year college students taking loans is significantly lower than 4-year college students but this doesn’t play out exactly the same way in Colorado
So where the number of 2-year students taking loans is 10th in the country, the percentage of students at 4-year schools taking out loans is 41st in the country
Those at 2-year colleges take out an average of $5,722 per year in Colorado
At 4-year colleges, this is $6,819 per year
State-level financial aid for students in Colorado
Colorado has the 18th largest budget for student financial aid
The state spends $185.8 million per year
This is only 0.24% of the state’s GSP (Gross State Product) – the 4th lowest spend as a proportion of GSP in the country
$142.6 million of the $185.8 million that Colorado spends is shared out in the form of grants – generally meaning that this money is not due to be repaid
The rest of the money ($43.2 million) is distributed through other programs, some of which may be due for repayment
