And the average debt per borrower of $34,146 is the 29th largest average student debt per borrower in the country – $3,641 below the national average
A total of 902,000 people in Massachusetts hold student debt making Massachusetts the state with the 14th highest number of borrowers in the country.
This is only 12.91% of the population of Massachusetts – making Massachusetts the state with the 23rd most student loan borrowers per capita.
Of these borrowers, 63.10% are under the age of 35 – the highest in the country.
How much student loan debt does the average Massachusetts resident have?
This makes Massachusetts the state with the 29th-largest average student loan debt
The average student debt in Massachusetts is $34,146 – $3,641 below the national average of $37,721
Within this average, the amount owed by Massachusetts residents varies greatly:
15.90% of borrowers owe less than $5k
24.70% of borrowers owe between $20k and $40k – the highest proportion of people that owe this much of any state and one of only 4 states at 24% or higher (New Hampshire, Vermont, and Pennsylvania)
2.20% of borrowers owe more than $200k
How much do Massachusetts residents borrow each year?
43% of Massachusetts undergraduate students take out federal student loans – this is the 7th highest in the country
For those at 2-year colleges, 20.20% of students chose to take student loans – that’s 27th in the country
They were approved to get $4,653 per year on average
This is the 46th most per student at 2-year colleges of any state with only 5 states offering less to their students at 2-year colleges (Vermont, Idaho, Utah, Missouri, and Nebraska)
More students at 4-year schools take out student loans – 49.90% receive student loans
This is 12th most out of the 50 states and DC.
These students are awarded $6,678 per year on average – the 33rd most in the country.
State-level financial aid for students in Massachusetts
Massachusetts is the state that spends the 22nd most state funds on financial aid for students
In total, Massachusetts spends $146 million on state-level financial aid programs per year
This works out at around 0.28% of the gross state product (GSP)
While Massachusetts has the nation’s 22nd largest budget for student financial aid, it only ranks 45th as a percentage of GSP
This works out at around $342 per undergraduate student in the state – the 38th most of any state in the country
Just over $100.1 million is distributed to students in the form of grants meaning that none of this amount is repaid.
The remaining $45.9 million is distributed between some other programs – some of which may be due to be repaid.