Borrowing and outcomes
Student debt at Alabama colleges
Across the 43 Alabama colleges that report both figures, median federal student debt at graduation is $22,189, and a median of 45.6% 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 Alabama institution. Most published “average student debt in Alabama” figures measure something else, the total balance carried by borrowers who live in Alabama, 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
$22,189
Middle half: $11,500 to $26,750
Median share who borrow
45.6%
Across 43 colleges
Illustrative monthly payment
$252/mo
10-year standard plan at 6.52%
Alabama colleges by median federal debt at graduation
Lowest median debt first, showing 43 of 43 colleges (26 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast Alabama Community CollegeRainsville, AL · Public two-year | $6,100 | 11.9% | $69/mo | $34,913 |
| Enterprise State Community CollegeEnterprise, AL · Public two-year | $7,499 | 20.8% | $85/mo | $42,572 |
| Snead State Community CollegeBoaz, AL · Public two-year | $9,000 | 12.1% | $102/mo | $35,735 |
| Marion Military InstituteMarion, AL · Public two-year | $9,250 | 39.7% | $105/mo | $59,644 |
| Jefferson State Community CollegeBirmingham, AL · Public two-year | $9,689 | 30% | $110/mo | $40,719 |
| Central Alabama Community CollegeAlexander City, AL · Public two-year | $9,766 | 16.1% | $111/mo | $33,506 |
| Northwest Shoals Community CollegeMuscle Shoals, AL · Public two-year | $10,000 | 24% | $114/mo | $33,828 |
| Chattahoochee Valley Community CollegePhenix City, AL · Public two-year | $10,500 | 24.8% | $119/mo | $36,438 |
| Coastal Alabama Community CollegeBay Minette, AL · Public two-year | $11,000 | 31.1% | $125/mo | $34,894 |
| George C Wallace State Community College-HancevilleHanceville, AL · Public two-year | $11,000 | 18.6% | $125/mo | $39,842 |
| Southern Union State Community CollegeWadley, AL · Public two-year | $11,000 | 23.1% | $125/mo | $36,597 |
| John C Calhoun State Community CollegeTanner, AL · Public two-year | $12,000 | 18.3% | $136/mo | $38,192 |
| Fortis Institute-BirminghamBirmingham, AL · Private two-year | $12,346 | 63.9% | $140/mo | $32,886 |
| Remington College-Mobile CampusMobile, AL · Private two-year | $13,271 | 86.3% | $151/mo | $31,349 |
| Athens State UniversityAthens, AL · Public four-year | $18,051 | 41% | $205/mo | $50,273 |
| Samford UniversityBirmingham, AL · Private four-year | $19,500 | 28.7% | $222/mo | $58,469 |
| University of Alabama in HuntsvilleHuntsville, AL · Public four-year | $20,705 | 33.9% | $235/mo | $61,767 |
| Auburn UniversityAuburn, AL · Public four-year | $21,000 | 27% | $239/mo | $65,337 |
| Columbia Southern UniversityOrange Beach, AL · Private four-year | $21,339 | 23.8% | $243/mo | $63,534 |
| Herzing University-BirminghamBirmingham, AL · Private four-year | $21,500 | 72.3% | $244/mo | $36,909 |
| University of North AlabamaFlorence, AL · Public four-year | $22,077 | 29.6% | $251/mo | $45,415 |
| Jacksonville State UniversityJacksonville, AL · Public four-year | $22,189 | 69.4% | $252/mo | $45,235 |
| University of Alabama at BirminghamBirmingham, AL · Public four-year | $22,300 | 41% | $253/mo | $54,501 |
| The University of AlabamaTuscaloosa, AL · Public four-year | $22,750 | 33.6% | $259/mo | $59,221 |
| Faulkner UniversityMontgomery, AL · Private four-year | $23,000 | 57.9% | $261/mo | $43,457 |
| University of MontevalloMontevallo, AL · Public four-year | $24,000 | 52.1% | $273/mo | $42,957 |
| University of South AlabamaMobile, AL · Public four-year | $24,929 | 48.7% | $283/mo | $49,379 |
| University of West AlabamaLivingston, AL · Public four-year | $24,944 | 63.7% | $283/mo | $44,232 |
| Auburn University at MontgomeryMontgomery, AL · Public four-year | $25,000 | 45.6% | $284/mo | $44,391 |
| Troy UniversityTroy, AL · Public four-year | $25,000 | 66.2% | $284/mo | $42,062 |
| South University-MontgomeryMontgomery, AL · Private four-year | $26,123 | 70.2% | $297/mo | $34,421 |
| University of MobileMobile, AL · Private four-year | $26,500 | 42.9% | $301/mo | $43,611 |
| Huntingdon CollegeMontgomery, AL · Private four-year | $27,000 | 70.8% | $307/mo | $49,601 |
| Oakwood UniversityHuntsville, AL · Private four-year | $27,000 | 57.5% | $307/mo | $42,488 |
| Spring Hill CollegeMobile, AL · Private four-year | $27,000 | 51.2% | $307/mo | $51,500 |
| Tuskegee UniversityTuskegee, AL · Private four-year | $27,000 | 61.7% | $307/mo | $49,641 |
| Talladega CollegeTalladega, AL · Private four-year | $28,500 | 77.8% | $324/mo | $32,229 |
| Stillman CollegeTuscaloosa, AL · Private four-year | $29,067 | 69.1% | $330/mo | $35,421 |
| Alabama A & M UniversityNormal, AL · Public four-year | $31,000 | 58.6% | $352/mo | $40,628 |
| Alabama State UniversityMontgomery, AL · Public four-year | $31,000 | 77.8% | $352/mo | $34,502 |
| Miles CollegeFairfield, AL · Private four-year | $31,217 | 77.5% | $355/mo | $32,627 |
| Amridge UniversityMontgomery, AL · Private four-year | $32,189 | 72.4% | $366/mo | $37,621 |
| Huntsville Bible CollegeHuntsville, AL · Private four-year | $40,500 | 51.5% | $460/mo | Not reported |
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 Alabama borrowing data shows
- Across the 43 Alabama colleges reporting both figures, median federal debt at graduation is $22,189 and the median borrower share is 45.6%. The middle half of these colleges falls between $11,500 and $26,750.
- On the standard 10-year federal repayment plan at 6.52%, $22,189 works out to about $252 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 Northeast Alabama Community College 11.9% of students take federal loans; at Remington College-Mobile Campus it is 86.3%. 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 42 Alabama colleges here that report it, is $42,275. 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 Alabama college graduates have?
- Across the 43 Alabama colleges that report both figures, the median federal loan debt at graduation is $22,189, and a median of 45.6% of students take federal loans. Individual colleges range from $6,100 to $40,500. 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 Alabama?
- No. This page covers the 43 Alabama 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 Alabama?
- Because they measure different things. This page reports median federal debt AT GRADUATION for students at Alabama 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.
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Data sources & methodology
Debt, borrower-share, and earnings figures for Alabama 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 Alabama Colleges. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/student-debt/alabama