Ohio Student Loan Debt and Financial Aid Statistics

Ohio Student Loan Debt and Financial Aid Statistics

Federal student loan debt statistics in Ohio

  • Ohio residents owe a total of $62.3 billion in student loan debts
  • This is the 7th largest total debt of all 50 states plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico
  • And the average debt per borrower of $34,721 is the 26th largest average student debt per borrower in the country – $3,066 below the national average
  • A total of 1.794 million people in Ohio hold student debt making Ohio the state with the sixth-highest number of borrowers in the country. 
  • This is only 15.23% of the population of Ohio – making Ohio the state with the 3rd most student loan borrowers per capita behind only DC and Georgia
  • Of these borrowers, 51.20% are under the age of 35.

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

  • The average student loan debt for borrowers who are Ohio residents is $37,757
  • This makes Ohio the state with the 7th-largest average student loan debt 
  • The average student debt in Ohio is almost exactly the national average of $37,787
  • Within this average, the amount owed by Ohio residents varies greatly:
    • 16.10% of borrowers owe less than $5k
    • 22.20% of borrowers owe between $20k and $40k
    • 1.60% of borrowers owe more than $200k

How much do Ohio residents borrow each year?

  • 42.50% of Ohio undergraduate students take out federal student loans – this is the 10th highest in the country
  • For those at 2-year colleges, 28.10% of students chose to take student loans – that’s 14th in the country
  • They were approved to get $5,095 per year on average
  • This is the 36th most per student at 2-year colleges of any state
  • Even more students at 4-year schools take out student loans – 47.70% receive student loans
  • This is 20th most out of the 50 states and DC. 
  • These students are awarded $6,611 per year on average – ranking 36th in the country.

State-level financial aid for students in Ohio 

  • Ohio is the state that spends the 23rd most state funds on financial aid for students
  • In total, Ohio spends $136.4 million on state-level financial aid programs per year — roughly similar to Massachusetts and Connecticut
  • This works out at around 0.34% of the gross state product (GSP)
  • While Ohio has the nation’s 23rd largest budget for student financial aid, it only ranks 39th as a percentage of GSP
  • This works out at around $347 per undergraduate student in the state – the 37th most of any state in the country
  • Just over $94.3 million is distributed to students in the form of grants meaning that none of this amount is repaid. 
  • The remaining $42.1 million is distributed between some other programs – some of which may be due to be repaid.