Illinois private and federal student loan borrowers owe an average balance of $36,531 — sixth-highest in the nation and just below the national average of $36,689.
The suspension of certain federal student loan payments has been extended through Aug. 31, 2022, but that doesn’t mean Illinois borrowers are in the clear. If you’re dealing with Illinois student loans, here’s what you need to know.
Illinois student loans: Borrowers owe average of $36,531 in federal, private debt — and more facts
Illinois student debt overview | |
---|---|
Average balance | $36,531 |
Total outstanding debt | $64 billion |
Number of borrowers | 1.7 million |
Average total monthly payment | $292 |
Note: Averages include federal and private student loan debt. |
Illinois community colleges can be a go-to option for students looking to keep their loan debt low. The state has around 50 community colleges, including seven in the City Colleges of Chicago system.
Not only can you attend community college, but you can also apply for some of the programs designed to reduce student costs. One of the most prominent programs, the Monetary Award Program, is an Illinois grant based on need. If you’re an Illinois resident attending a state school, you’ll be considered for this grant based on the information submitted in your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). There are also grant programs aimed at veterans, National Guard members and dependents of fire and police officers.
Even with these programs — and amid a global coronavirus pandemic — 1.7 million borrowers still rely on student loans to help them pay for higher education.
Student loan debt in Illinois’ largest counties, from Cook to Will
Student loan debt in most populous Illinois counties | ||
---|---|---|
County | Average student loan balance | Average monthly student loan payment |
Cook | $37,748 | $312 |
DuPage | $37,009 | $314 |
Kane | $32,074 | $288 |
Lake | $37,214 | $326 |
McHenry | $32,707 | $287 |
Will | $37,060 | $258 |
Note: Limited to counties with a population of at least 300,000 residents; averages include federal and private student loan debt. |
Student loan debt by ZIP code in Illinois’ largest city: Chicago
Loan repayment programs for Illinois residents
If you’re looking for help, Illinois has some loan repayment programs, in addition to student loan forgiveness programs. These programs are contingent upon appropriations from the governor, as well as the Illinois General Assembly. Here’s what you need to know.
Illinois Teachers Loan Repayment Program
The Illinois Teachers Loan Repayment Program focuses on teachers who have already received some measure of federal teacher loan forgiveness. You must have a remaining student loan debt balance to qualify. You must also teach for five years at an elementary or secondary school that Illinois considers a low-income school to be eligible for up to $5,000.
John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program
With the John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program, you must agree to work as a state prosecutor or public defender. As long as you meet various requirements, you could be eligible for up to $4,000 a year, for an aggregate amount of up to $60,000. However, you have to be employed in a qualified manner for at least three years or repay any amount you received.
Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program
For the Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program, you must be willing to maintain a nursing educator career in Illinois. You do need to fulfill a requirement of teaching for at least 12 months prior to initially applying for the program. Additionally, you must be a licensed nurse educator and meet other requirements. The annual award is worth up to $5,000, for up to four years.
Veterans’ Home Medical Providers’ Loan Repayment Program
If you work in a veterans’ home, you might be eligible for the Veterans’ Home Medical Providers’ Loan Repayment Program, which targets different health care providers. Qualified providers can include doctors, nurses, nursing assistants and others. There’s an annual award of up to $5,000 for up to four years.
Illinois federal student loan borrowers younger than 25 owe more than national average — and more comparisons
How to refinance student loans in Illinois
With more than 8% of borrowers in Illinois owing $100,000 or more in student loans, refinancing could provide significant savings for graduates struggling with their payments. You’re especially likely to see better results if you have a strong credit profile.
Student loan refinancing replaces your old student loans with a new private student loan. Your new student loan servicer pays off your existing federal and/or private student loans and you then make payments on a single student loan.
One main benefit of refinancing Illinois student loans is the lower interest rate, which can reduce what you owe overall. Plus, you only have to worry about one payment.
Realize, though, that once you refinance to a private loan, you’re no longer eligible for federal loan protections, including:
- Income-driven repayment
- Federal loan forgiveness programs
- Deferment and forbearance
If you want to maintain federal loan forgiveness as an option, it’s possible to refinance only your private loans. Some of the best private student loans offer some form of hardship protection and other features. Carefully consider how to move forward, and whether your interest savings are enough to offset losing potential government protections.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education data as of June 30, 2020
- Anonymized My LendingTree June 2020 credit reports
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax as of June 2020
- mappingstudentdebt.org
Because the latter data is from 2015, researchers estimated the increase in student loan debt per borrower in the state using statewide data from anonymized credit reports.
Interested in refinancing student loans?
Here are the top 9 lenders of 2022!Lender | Variable APR | Eligible Degrees | |
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![]() | 1.74% – 8.70%1 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
![]() | 1.74% – 7.99%2 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
![]() | 1.74% – 7.99%3 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
![]() | 1.89% – 5.90%4 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
![]() | 1.74% – 7.99%5 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
![]() | 2.05% – 5.25%6 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
![]() | 1.86% – 6.01% | Undergrad & Graduate | |
![]() | N/A7 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
![]() | 1.99% – 8.38%8 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
Check out the testimonials and our in-depth reviews! 1 Important Disclosures for Splash Financial. Splash Financial DisclosuresTerms and Conditions apply. Splash reserves the right to modify or discontinue products and benefits at any time without notice. Rates and terms are also subject to change at any time without notice. Offers are subject to credit approval. To qualify, a borrower must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident in an eligible state and meet applicable underwriting requirements. Not all borrowers receive the lowest rate. Lowest rates are reserved for the highest qualified borrowers. If approved, your actual rate will be within a range of rates and will depend on a variety of factors, including term of loan, a responsible financial history, income and other factors. Refinancing or consolidating private and federal student loans may not be the right decision for everyone. Federal loans carry special benefits not available for loans made through Splash Financial, for example, public service loan forgiveness and economic hardship programs, fee waivers and rebates on the principal, which may not be accessible to you after you refinance. The rates displayed may include a 0.25% autopay discount The information you provide to us is an inquiry to determine whether we or our lenders can make a loan offer that meets your needs. If we or any of our lending partners has an available loan offer for you, you will be invited to submit a loan application to the lender for its review. We do not guarantee that you will receive any loan offers or that your loan application will be approved. Offers are subject to credit approval and are available only to U.S. citizens or permanent residents who meet applicable underwriting requirements. Not all borrowers will receive the lowest rates, which are available to the most qualified borrowers. Participating lenders, rates and terms are subject to change at any time without notice. To check the rates and terms you qualify for, Splash Financial conducts a soft credit pull that will not affect your credit score. However, if you choose a product and continue your application, the lender will request your full credit report from one or more consumer reporting agencies, which is considered a hard credit pull and may affect your credit. Splash Financial and our lending partners reserve the right to modify or discontinue products and benefits at any time without notice. To qualify, a borrower must be a U.S. citizen and meet our lending partner’s underwriting requirements. Lowest rates are reserved for the highest qualified borrowers. This information is current as of May 4, 2022. 2 Rate range above includes optional 0.25% Auto Pay discount. Important Disclosures for Earnest. Earnest DisclosuresStudent Loan Refinance Interest Rate Disclosure Actual rate and available repayment terms will vary based on your income. Fixed rates range from 2.99% APR to 8.24% APR (excludes 0.25% Auto Pay discount). Variable rates range from 1.99% APR to 8.24% APR (excludes 0.25% Auto Pay discount). Earnest variable interest rate student loan refinance loans are based on a publicly available index, the 30-day Average Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The variable rate is based on the rate published on the 25th day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month, rounded to the nearest hundredth of a percent. The rate will not increase more than once per month. The maximum rate for your loan is 8.95% if your loan term is 10 years or less. For loan terms of more than 10 years to 15 years, the interest rate will never exceed 9.95%. For loan terms over 15 years, the interest rate will never exceed 11.95%. Please note, we are not able to offer variable rate loans in AK, IL, MN, NH, OH, TN, and TX. Let us know if you have any questions and feel free to reach out directly to our team. 3 Important Disclosures for SoFi. SoFi DisclosuresFixed rates range from 3.49% APR to 7.99% APR with a 0.25% autopay discount. Variable rates from 1.74% APR to 7.99% APR with a 0.25% autopay discount. Unless required to be lower to comply with applicable law, Variable Interest rates on 5-, 7-, and 10-year terms are capped at 8.95% APR; 15- and 20-year terms are capped at 9.95% APR. Your actual rate will be within the range of rates listed above and will depend on the term you select, evaluation of your creditworthiness, income, presence of a co-signer and a variety of other factors. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. For the SoFi variable-rate product, the variable interest rate for a given month is derived by adding a margin to the 30-day average SOFR index, published two business days preceding such calendar month, rounded up to the nearest one hundredth of one percent (0.01% or 0.0001). APRs for variable-rate loans may increase after origination if the SOFR index increases. The SoFi 0.25% autopay interest rate reduction requires you to agree to make monthly principal and interest payments by an automatic monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. This benefit will discontinue and be lost for periods in which you do not pay by automatic deduction from a savings or checking account. The benefit lowers your interest rate but does not change the amount of your monthly payment. This benefit is suspended during periods of deferment and forbearance. Autopay is not required to receive a loan from SoFi. 4 Important Disclosures for Laurel Road. Laurel Road DisclosuresAll credit products are subject to credit approval. Laurel Road began originating student loans in 2013 and has since helped thousands of professionals with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees consolidate and refinance more than $4 billion in federal and private school loans. Laurel Road also offers a suite of online graduate school loan products and personal loans that help simplify lending through customized technology and personalized service. In April 2019, Laurel Road was acquired by KeyBank, one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies. Laurel Road is a brand of KeyBank National Association offering online lending products in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. All loans are provided by KeyBank National Association, a nationally chartered bank. Member FDIC. For more information, visit www.laurelroad.com. As used throughout these Terms & Conditions, the term “Lender” refers to KeyBank National Association and its affiliates, agents, guaranty insurers, investors, assigns, and successors in interest.
Assumptions: Repayment examples above assume a loan amount of $10,000 with repayment beginning immediately following disbursement. Repayment examples do not include the 0.25% AutoPay Discount. Annual Percentage Rate (“APR”): This term represents the actual cost of financing to the borrower over the life of the loan expressed as a yearly rate. Interest Rate: A simple annual rate that is applied to an unpaid balance. Variable Rates: The current index for variable rate loans is derived from the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) and changes in the LIBOR index may cause your monthly payment to increase. Borrowers who take out a term of 5, 7, or 10 years will have a maximum interest rate of 9%, those who take out a 15 or 20-year variable loan will have a maximum interest rate of 10%. KEYBANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR DISCONTINUE PRODUCTS AND BENEFITS AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. This information is current as of April 29, 2021. Information and rates are subject to change without notice. 5 Important Disclosures for Navient. 6 Important Disclosures for LendKey. LendKey DisclosuresRefinancing via LendKey.com is only available for applicants with qualified private education loans from an eligible institution. Loans that were used for exam preparation classes, including, but not limited to, loans for LSAT, MCAT, GMAT, and GRE preparation, are not eligible for refinancing with a lender via LendKey.com. If you currently have any of these exam preparation loans, you should not include them in an application to refinance your student loans on this website. Applicants must be either U.S. citizens or Permanent Residents in an eligible state to qualify for a loan. Certain membership requirements (including the opening of a share account and any applicable association fees in connection with membership) may apply in the event that an applicant wishes to accept a loan offer from a credit union lender. Lenders participating on LendKey.com reserve the right to modify or discontinue the products, terms, and benefits offered on this website at any time without notice. LendKey Technologies, Inc. is not affiliated with, nor does it endorse, any educational institution. Subject to floor rate and may require the automatic payments be made from a checking or savings account with the lender. The rate reduction will be removed and the rate will be increased by 0.25% upon any cancellation or failed collection attempt of the automatic payment and will be suspended during any period of deferment or forbearance. As a result, during the forbearance or suspension period, and/or if the automatic payment is canceled, any increase will take the form of higher payments. The lowest advertised variable APR is only available for loan terms of 5 years and is reserved for applicants with FICO scores of at least 810. As of 5/17/2022 student loan refinancing rates range from 2.05% APR – 5.25% Variable APR with AutoPay and 2.49% APR – 7.93% Fixed APR with AutoPay. 7 Important Disclosures for PenFed. PenFed DisclosuresFixed Rate Loan Terms: 5 years/60 monthly payments, 8 years/96 monthly payments, 12 years/144 monthly payments or 15 years/180 monthly payments. Annual Percentage Rate is the cost of credit calculating the interest rate, loan amount, repayment term and the timing of payments. Fixed rates range from 3.29% to 5.43% APR. Rates are subject to change without notice. Fixed APR: Fixed rates will not change during the term. This rate is expressed as an APR. Since there are no fees associated with this loan offer, the APR is the same percentage as the actual interest rate of the loan. These rates are subject to additional terms and conditions, and rates are subject to change at any time without notice. Such changes will only apply to applications taken after the effective date of change. 8 Important Disclosures for CitizensBank. CitizensBank DisclosuresEducation Refinance Loan Rate Disclosure: Variable interest rates range from 1.99%-8.38% (1.99%-8.38% APR). Fixed interest rates range from 2.99%-8.63% (2.99%-8.63% APR). IS Variable Rate Disclosure: Variable Rates advertised are based on the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) published in The Wall Street Journal on the twenty-fifth day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month. As of December 1, 2021, the one-month LIBOR rate is 0.09%. Variable interest rates will fluctuate over the term of the loan with changes in the LIBOR rate, and will vary based on applicable terms, level of degree and presence of a co-signer. Your final variable rate may be based upon the 30-day average SOFR index, as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The maximum variable rate is the greater of 21.00% or Prime Rate plus 9.00%. ERL Variable Rate Disclosure: Variable interest rates are based on the 30-day average Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) index, as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As of May 1, 2022, the 30-day average SOFR index is 0.29%. Variable interest rates will fluctuate over the term of the loan with changes in the SOFR index, and will vary based on applicable terms, level of degree and presence of a co-signer. The maximum variable interest rate is the greater of 21.00% or the prime rate plus 9.00%. Fixed Rate Disclosure: Fixed rate ranges are based on applicable terms, level of degree, and presence of a co-signer. Lowest Rate Disclosure: Lowest rates are only available for the most creditworthy applicants, require a 5-year repayment term, immediate repayment, a graduate or medical degree (where applicable), and include our Loyalty and Automatic Payment discounts of 0.25 percentage points each, as outlined in the Loyalty Discount and Automatic Payment Discount disclosures. Rates are subject to additional terms and conditions, and are subject to change at any time without notice. Such changes will only apply to applications taken after the effective date of change. Federal Loan vs. Private Loan Benefits: Some federal student loans include unique benefits that the borrower may not receive with a private student loan, some of which we do not offer. Borrowers should carefully review federal benefits, especially if they work in public service, are in the military, are considering possible loan forgiveness options, are currently on or considering income based repayment options or are concerned about a steady source of future income and would want to lower their payments at some time in the future. When the borrower refinances, they waive any current and potential future benefits of their federal loans. For more information about federal student loan benefits and federal loan consolidation, visit http://studentaid.ed.gov/. We also have several resources available to help the borrower make a decision on our website including Should I Refinance My Student Loans? and our FAQs. Should I Refinance My Student Loans? includes a comparison of federal and private student loan benefits that we encourage the borrower to review. |