Debt: Bachelor’s Degree Recipients

Among students who received bachelor’s degrees in 2019–20, 60.5 percent borrowed an average of $29,743 and had a median debt among borrowers of $26,852 at graduation. The share of bachelor’s degree recipients who borrowed money to help finance their education decreased 8.4 percentage points between 2015–16 and 2019–20, from 68.9 percent to 60.5 percent. [1]

Borrowing Rates Among Bachelor's Degree Recipients, by Race and Ethnicity: 2019-20
Average Debt per Borrower: Bachelor's Degree Recipients, by Race and Ethnicity: 2019-20

Report Links

Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education: 2024 Status Report
Chapter Six: How Students Finance Undergraduate Education

Chapter Six Report Download (PDF) 954 KB
Chapter Six Data Tables Download (XLSX) 144 KB

Source

U.S. Department of Education, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, 2020

Data Notes

[1] Data from 2015–16 is from Espinosa et al. 2019.

! Interpret with caution. Ratio of standard error to estimate is greater than 30 percent but less than 50 percent.

‡ Reporting standards not met