Borrowing and outcomes
Student debt at Oklahoma colleges
Across the 45 Oklahoma colleges that report both figures, median federal student debt at graduation is $17,000, and a median of 39.5% of students take federal loans. Those two numbers belong together: the dollar figure describes only the students who borrowed, so it means something quite different at a college where most students borrow than at one where few do.
Which student-debt number this is
This page measures debt at graduation, by college: what students who borrowed had taken in federal loans by the time they finished at a particular Oklahoma institution. Most published “average student debt in Oklahoma” figures measure something else, the total balance carried by borrowers who live in Oklahoma, which includes graduate-school borrowing and years of accrued interest and is therefore much larger. Both are real; they answer different questions. Use this one to compare colleges, not to estimate a lifetime balance.
Median debt at graduation
$17,000
Middle half: $11,000 to $21,500
Median share who borrow
39.5%
Across 45 colleges
Illustrative monthly payment
$193/mo
10-year standard plan at 6.52%
Oklahoma colleges by median federal debt at graduation
Lowest median debt first, showing 45 of 45 colleges (28 public, 17 private). This is a sort of one reported figure, not a ranking and not a recommendation. Every row shows the borrower share beside the dollar amount because neither number means much alone.
| College | Median federal debt | Share who borrow | Illustrative payment | Earnings 10 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redlands Community College, El Reno, OK · Public two-year | $6,750 | 9.3% | $77/mo | $37,224 |
| Central Oklahoma College, Oklahoma City, OK · Private two-year | $7,883 | 82.5% | $90/mo | $21,213 |
| Clary Sage College, Tulsa, OK · Private two-year | $8,898 | 71.4% | $101/mo | $28,954 |
| Community Care College, Tulsa, OK · Private two-year | $8,898 | 55.8% | $101/mo | $28,954 |
| Oklahoma Technical College, Tulsa, OK · Private two-year | $8,898 | 76% | $101/mo | $28,954 |
| Carl Albert State College, Poteau, OK · Public two-year | $9,362 | 14.2% | $106/mo | $34,117 |
| Tulsa Welding School-Tulsa, Tulsa, OK · Private two-year | $9,500 | 72.8% | $108/mo | $41,067 |
| Western Oklahoma State College, Altus, OK · Public two-year | $9,500 | 9.9% | $108/mo | $38,248 |
| Oklahoma City Community College, Oklahoma City, OK · Public two-year | $10,388 | 11.9% | $118/mo | $38,146 |
| Rose State College, Midwest City, OK · Public two-year | $10,453 | 14.1% | $119/mo | $37,555 |
| Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, Miami, OK · Public two-year | $11,000 | 35.5% | $125/mo | $38,337 |
| Northern Oklahoma College, Tonkawa, OK · Public two-year | $11,000 | 20.1% | $125/mo | $37,566 |
| Seminole State College, Seminole, OK · Public two-year | $11,000 | 12.8% | $125/mo | $35,390 |
| Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology, Okmulgee, OK · Public four-year | $11,334 | 46.9% | $129/mo | $45,634 |
| Connors State College, Warner, OK · Public two-year | $11,500 | 24.8% | $131/mo | $38,469 |
| Eastern Oklahoma State College, Wilburton, OK · Public two-year | $11,900 | 16.5% | $135/mo | $38,658 |
| Tulsa Community College, Tulsa, OK · Public two-year | $12,223 | 16.4% | $139/mo | $39,746 |
| Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Goodwell, OK · Public four-year | $12,500 | 65.2% | $142/mo | $44,933 |
| Murray State College, Tishomingo, OK · Public two-year | $13,387 | 42.6% | $152/mo | $36,545 |
| Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, OK · Public four-year | $14,250 | 21.1% | $162/mo | $41,307 |
| Miller-Motte College-Tulsa, Tulsa, OK · Private two-year | $15,917 | 85.5% | $181/mo | $31,102 |
| Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Weatherford, OK · Public four-year | $15,954 | 65.4% | $181/mo | $45,744 |
| Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK · Public four-year | $17,000 | 34.4% | $193/mo | $45,079 |
| Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Alva, OK · Public four-year | $17,355 | 39.5% | $197/mo | $44,358 |
| Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK · Public four-year | $17,367 | 38% | $197/mo | $45,379 |
| East Central University, Ada, OK · Public four-year | $17,671 | 54.5% | $201/mo | $44,962 |
| Oklahoma State University-Main Campus, Stillwater, OK · Public four-year | $20,500 | 38% | $233/mo | $57,413 |
| Rogers State University, Claremore, OK · Public four-year | $20,500 | 35.8% | $233/mo | $43,166 |
| University of Oklahoma-Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK · Public four-year | $20,654 | 51.8% | $235/mo | $63,126 |
| University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus, Norman, OK · Public four-year | $20,654 | 32.8% | $235/mo | $63,126 |
| Southwestern Christian University, Bethany, OK · Private four-year | $20,715 | 44.3% | $235/mo | $40,391 |
| Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City, OK · Private four-year | $20,835 | 47.8% | $237/mo | $54,655 |
| University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK · Public four-year | $21,000 | 34.8% | $239/mo | $48,351 |
| Cameron University, Lawton, OK · Public four-year | $21,500 | 29.2% | $244/mo | $40,118 |
| University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK · Private four-year | $21,500 | 36.6% | $244/mo | $61,408 |
| University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, Chickasha, OK · Public four-year | $21,750 | 37.6% | $247/mo | $41,913 |
| Southern Nazarene University, Bethany, OK · Private four-year | $21,900 | 59.8% | $249/mo | $54,951 |
| Randall University, Moore, OK · Private four-year | $22,626 | 40.5% | $257/mo | $42,051 |
| Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, OK · Private four-year | $24,801 | 44.1% | $282/mo | $48,434 |
| Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Bartlesville, OK · Private four-year | $24,813 | 65.7% | $282/mo | $59,841 |
| Langston University, Langston, OK · Public four-year | $26,000 | 62.1% | $295/mo | $33,261 |
| Oklahoma Christian University, Edmond, OK · Private four-year | $26,000 | 43.9% | $295/mo | $49,203 |
| Bacone College, Muskogee, OK · Private four-year | $26,187 | 28.9% | $298/mo | $40,006 |
| Mid-America Christian University, Oklahoma City, OK · Private four-year | $26,394 | 47.7% | $300/mo | $46,116 |
| Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, OK · Private four-year | $27,000 | 46.2% | $307/mo | $46,885 |
The illustrative payment assumes the standard 10-year federal repayment plan at 6.52%, the U.S. Department of Education, fixed rate for undergraduate Direct Loans first disbursed July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. It is an illustration, not a quote.
What the Oklahoma borrowing data shows
- Across the 45 Oklahoma colleges reporting both figures, median federal debt at graduation is $17,000 and the median borrower share is 39.5%. The middle half of these colleges falls between $11,000 and $21,500.
- On the standard 10-year federal repayment plan at 6.52%, $17,000 works out to about $193 a month for 10 years. That is an illustration of one repayment plan, not a quote: income-driven plans produce very different payments, and a real borrower's loans carry the rate in force in each year they borrowed.
- The borrower share varies far more than the dollar figure. At Redlands Community College 9.3% of students take federal loans; at Miller-Motte College-Tulsa it is 85.5%. Read the two numbers together — a low median at a college where almost nobody borrows describes the few who did, not the typical student.
- Median earnings ten years after entry, across the 45 Oklahoma colleges here that report it, is $41,307. That figure covers students who received federal aid and reflects the mix of programs and students at each college, not the effect of attending it.
How these figures were built
Every number comes from the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard / IPEDS), as carried in CampusPin’s committed snapshot of 2026-08-13. Nothing is recomputed, modelled, or imputed.
An institution appears here only if it reports bothmedian federal debt at graduation and the share of students receiving federal loans. Median debt without the borrower share is the misleading half of the statistic, so a college reporting one and not the other is excluded rather than shown incomplete. Institutions sharing an identical debt, borrower-share and earnings tuple are also excluded, because that pattern means one record’s series was attached to several colleges upstream and the figure cannot be attributed to a single school.
Federal loans only. Private loans, parent PLUS borrowing, and money families pay without borrowing are not in this data, so real household borrowing is higher than these figures. Median debt describes students who borrowed and completed, not all students. Figures reflect a prior cohort and lag the current academic year by one to two federal reporting cycles.
Frequently asked questions
- How much student debt do Oklahoma college graduates have?
- Across the 45 Oklahoma colleges that report both figures, the median federal loan debt at graduation is $17,000, and a median of 39.5% of students take federal loans. Individual colleges range from $6,750 to $27,000. These are federal loans only, so households that also used private or parent PLUS loans borrowed more than this.
- Does a low average debt figure mean a college is affordable?
- Not on its own. Median debt describes only the students who borrowed and completed. A college where 15% of students borrow can post a low median while most families pay a high price out of pocket, and a college where most students borrow can post a modest median because its price is genuinely low. Always read the dollar figure together with the share who borrow, which is why this page never shows one without the other.
- Is this every college in Oklahoma?
- No. This page covers the 45 Oklahoma institutions in CampusPin's dataset that report BOTH median debt at graduation and the borrower share. A college reporting only one of the two is excluded rather than shown with half the statistic. CampusPin's dataset is also not the complete federal Title IV universe.
- Why is this lower than the average student debt figure I have seen for Oklahoma?
- Because they measure different things. This page reports median federal debt AT GRADUATION for students at Oklahoma colleges. The widely published state figures report the total federal balance carried by borrowers who RESIDE in a state, which includes graduate-school borrowing and years of accrued interest on loans taken long ago, so it is substantially higher. Neither is wrong. Use debt at graduation to compare colleges against each other, and the residence figure to understand what people in a state currently owe.
- What is not counted in these figures?
- Private student loans, parent PLUS borrowing, and money families pay without borrowing are all outside this data, so real household cost is higher than the numbers here. The figures also reflect a prior graduating cohort and lag the current academic year by one to two federal reporting cycles.
Limitations of this data
- Median debt covers FEDERAL loans only. Private loans, parent PLUS borrowing, and money families pay without borrowing are not included, so real household cost is higher than this figure.
- It describes students who BORROWED and completed, not all students. Read it together with the borrower share on the same row.
- Figures reflect a prior cohort and lag the current academic year by one to two federal reporting cycles.
- Median earnings ten years out covers students who received federal financial aid, and reflects the mix of programs and students at each institution, not the effect of attending it.
- Reflects institutions in CampusPin's dataset, NOT the full federal Title IV universe.
More South states
Cost and outcomes in Oklahoma
- Affordable colleges in Oklahoma
- All colleges in Oklahoma
- Compare debt across every state
- What college costs at your family income
- Research: college cost vs. outcomes
- Research: where college costs more than a family can borrow
- FAFSA lower earnings list: 13 Oklahoma schools flagged now (22 in December 2025)
Keep going on CampusPin
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Federal reporting is updated annually. Report a data issue.
Data sources & methodology
Debt, borrower-share, and earnings figures for Oklahoma colleges come from federal collections reported by each institution.
Sources used across this page
Not every source informs every figure. Each data point draws on the source appropriate to it see the relevant section and the data dictionary for field-level provenance.
IPEDS / NCES College Navigator
Federal enrollment, admissions, tuition, retention, and program data. Released annually with a 1–2 year lag.
U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard
Net price by income band, post-graduation earnings, and federal aid context.
Institutional websites
Each school's official admissions, registrar, and financial-aid pages are the authoritative source for current details.
Where a value is unavailable it is shown as unavailable, never as 0, free, or a negative judgment. Always confirm final details with the institution before applying.
Suggested citation
CampusPin. Student Debt at Oklahoma Colleges. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/student-debt/oklahoma