This is the 8th largest total debt of all 50 states plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico — just behind Ohio and ahead of Michigan
And the average debt per borrower of $37,757 is the 7th largest average student debt per borrower in the country – only $30 below the national average
A total of 1.631 million people in Illinois hold student debt making Illinois the state with the eighth-highest number of borrowers in the country.
However, this is only 12.88% of the population of Illinois – placing Illinois in 25th position when it comes to the percentage of student loan borrowers per capita.
Of these borrowers, 54.50% are under the age of 35 – this is the 17th most borrowers under the age of 50 in all the states.
How much student loan debt does the average Illinois resident have?
The average student loan debt for borrowers who are Illinois residents is $37,757
This makes Illinois the state with the 7th-largest average student loan debt
The average student debt in Illinois is almost exactly the national average of $37,787
Within this average, the amount owed by Illinois residents varies greatly:
15.60% of borrowers owe less than $5k
21.80% of borrowers owe between $20k and $40k
2.60% of borrowers owe more than $200k
Illinois has the 8th highest percentage of borrowers that owe over $200,000 in the country
How much do Illinois residents borrow each year?
31.40% of Illinois undergraduate students take out federal student loans – this is the 39th in the country
For those at 2-year colleges, only 8.70% of students chose to take student loans – that’s 48th in the country
They were approved to get $4,952 per year on average
This is the 38th most per student at 2-year colleges of any state
Even more students at 4-year schools take out student loans where 52.70% receive student loans — just less than Iowa
This is 5th most out of the 50 states and DC.
These students are awarded $6,931 per year on average – ranking 17th in the country.
State-level financial aid for students in Illinois
Illinois is the state that spends the 12th most state funds on financial aid for students
In total, Illinois spends $397.8 million on state-level financial aid programs per year
This works out at around 0.48% of the gross state product (GSP)
While Illinois has the nation’s 12th largest budget for student financial aid, it only ranks 17th as a percentage of GSP
This works out at around $1,131 per undergraduate student in the state – the 16th most of any state in the country
Just over $392.3 million is distributed to students in the form of grants meaning that none of this amount is repaid.
The remaining $5.5 million is distributed between some other programs – some of which may be due to be repaid.
