Federal student loan debt statistics in Iowa

• Residents of Iowa have a combined total of $13.2 billion in student loan debts
• This is the 31st highest debt out of the 50 states plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico
• The average student loan debt of an Iowa resident is $30,848
• This is the 3rd lowest average student loan debt out of all of the states — the highest are Washington DC, Maryland, Georgia, Virginia, and Florida
• And is $6,939 below the national average
• There are 433,300 Iowa residents that have student loan debt
• This is 13.57% of the population of Iowa, making Iowa the state with the 14th highest proportion of its residents with some student loan debt
• 55.40% of the borrowers are under the age of 35

How much student loan debt does the average Iowa resident have?

• The average student loan debt of an Iowa resident is $30,848
• This is $6,939 below the national average and the 3rd lowest average student loan debt out of all of the states
• When looking at the brackets of how much residents owe:
  • 18.20% owe less than $5,000 – 6th highest in the country
  • 22.70% owe between $20,000 and $40,000
  • 1.30% owe more than $200,000 – 5th lowest in the country

How much do Iowa residents borrow each year?

• 41.50% of Iowan undergraduates take federal student loans each year
• In 2-year colleges, this is 27.80% 
• In 4-year colleges, it’s 53.60% – the 4th highest percentage in the country
• Those at 2-year colleges are awarded $5,506 per year on average
• At 4-year colleges, this amount jumps to $6,635 on average per year

State-level financial aid for students in Iowa

• Iowa has the 34th largest student financial aid budget of any state in the country
• The total financial aid budget for the state is $62.6 million per year
• This works out to $495 per undergraduate student – the 29th most in the country
• It also works out as the 27th largest GSP spend at 0.42%