Student debt by college

What graduates actually owe, and how many of them borrowed

A median debt figure on its own tells you almost nothing. $20,000 where 80% of students borrow is a very different school from $20,000 where 18% do. This page never shows one number without the other, across 2,945 U.S. colleges that report both.

Debt at colleges nationwide

Median debt at graduation

$19,500

across 2,945 institutions

Share who borrow

43.6%

median across these institutions

Middle half of schools

$11,537 to $24,606

25th to 75th percentile

At the typical institution here, students who borrowed left with about $19,500 in federal loans, and about 43.6% of students borrowed at all. On the standard 10-year federal repayment plan that median works out to roughly $222 a month at 6.52%. Median earnings ten years after entry, at the 2,878 of these institutions reporting it, are $46,705. That is an association shaped by which students enroll and which programs each school offers, not a measure of what attending caused.

Payment illustration uses 6.52% over 10 years. U.S. Department of Education, fixed rate for undergraduate Direct Loans first disbursed July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. A real borrower carries the rate in force in each year they borrowed, and income-driven plans produce very different payments.

Debt and borrowing at specific schools

Lowest median debt first. This is a sort of one reported figure, not a ranking: low median debt where almost nobody borrows can mean the data describes very few students, so read both columns together. Showing 50 of 2,945.

Median federal debt at graduation and share of students borrowing, at colleges nationwide
Institution	Where	Median debt	Share who borrow	Est. monthly
Reedley College	Reedley, CA	$2,819	0.6%	$32
Barstow Community College	Barstow, CA	$3,500	12.3%	$40
Berea College	Berea, KY	$3,591	12%	$41
Fresno City College	Fresno, CA	$4,058	0.3%	$46
St. Augustine College	Chicago, IL	$4,423	5.4%	$50
City Colleges of Chicago-Richard J Daley College	Chicago, IL	$4,500	0.2%	$51
College of the Sequoias	Visalia, CA	$4,500	0.7%	$51
Fullerton College	Fullerton, CA	$4,500	2.4%	$51
Alvin Community College	Alvin, TX	$4,519	3.8%	$51
Gods Bible School and College	Cincinnati, OH	$4,522	6%	$51
San Diego Mesa College	San Diego, CA	$4,725	2%	$54
Arizona Western College	Yuma, AZ	$4,826	0.5%	$55
Carl Sandburg College	Galesburg, IL	$4,909	15.2%	$56
North American University	Stafford, TX	$4,925	40.4%	$56
Santiago Canyon College	Orange, CA	$5,125	1%	$58
Oakton College	Des Plaines, IL	$5,250	0.4%	$60
Paris Junior College	Paris, TX	$5,342	2.5%	$61
Albizu University-Miami	Miami, FL	$5,500	64.1%	$63
Del Mar College	Corpus Christi, TX	$5,500	5.3%	$63
East Central Community College	Decatur, MS	$5,500	7%	$63
New Mexico Military Institute	Roswell, NM	$5,500	5.4%	$63
Pima Medical Institute-Albuquerque	Albuquerque, NM	$5,500	56.5%	$63
Pima Medical Institute-Dillon	Dillon, MT	$5,500	54.6%	$63
Rio Hondo College	Whittier, CA	$5,500	0.5%	$63
Meridian Community College	Meridian, MS	$5,521	11%	$63
De Anza College	Cupertino, CA	$5,625	2.4%	$64
Brazosport College	Lake Jackson, TX	$5,641	1.3%	$64
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College	Chicago, IL	$5,750	2.1%	$65
Mt San Antonio College	Walnut, CA	$5,880	0.9%	$67
College of the Mainland	Texas City, TX	$5,960	3.4%	$68
East Arkansas Community College	Forrest City, AR	$6,000	3.1%	$68
Macomb Community College	Warren, MI	$6,000	8.7%	$68
Northern New Mexico College	Espanola, NM	$6,000	3.3%	$68
Southern Arkansas University Tech	Camden, AR	$6,000	8.7%	$68
Northeast Alabama Community College	Rainsville, AL	$6,100	11.9%	$69
Independence Community College	Independence, KS	$6,115	24.4%	$69
City Colleges of Chicago-Kennedy-King College	Chicago, IL	$6,180	3%	$70
St Charles Community College	Cottleville, MO	$6,187	6.6%	$70
Lake Land College	Mattoon, IL	$6,188	6.1%	$70
Southwest Texas Junior College	Uvalde, TX	$6,200	3.2%	$70
McHenry County College	Crystal Lake, IL	$6,260	1.8%	$71
Jones County Junior College	Ellisville, MS	$6,291	6.3%	$71
All-State Career School	Essington, PA	$6,333	61.4%	$72
Contra Costa Medical Career College	Antioch, CA	$6,333	13.7%	$72
Infinity College	Lafayette, LA	$6,333	43%	$72
Cascadia College	Bothell, WA	$6,368	2.2%	$72
Georgia Northwestern Technical College	Rome, GA	$6,421	4.3%	$73
Institute of Culinary Education	Pasadena, CA	$6,439	44.6%	$73
Santa Monica College	Santa Monica, CA	$6,450	2%	$73
City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright College	Chicago, IL	$6,500	0.6%	$74

What this number is, exactly

Median federal debt of borrowers: It is the median federal loan balance at graduation among students who borrowed, not an average across everyone who graduated. Pages that do not say which of those two they mean are not comparable to this one.
Federal loans only: Private loans, parent PLUS borrowing, and money families pay without borrowing are not in this figure. Real household cost is higher, sometimes far higher.
Why the borrower share matters: A low median at a school where few students borrow often reflects a wealthy intake rather than a cheap education. A high share who borrow, with a modest median, can mean the opposite. Neither number is interpretable alone, which is why this page always shows both.

Source, method, and limits

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, as carried by the CampusPin institution database. Snapshot taken 2026-08-13. Of 3,798 institutions, 2,945 report both median debt and the borrower share and appear here. Institutions reporting debt without a borrower share are excluded rather than shown with half the picture.

Limitations

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.

What will it cost my family?Cost versus graduation and earnings Compare aid offers

Or read it state by state

49 states have enough colleges reporting both figures to publish a median. Each page lists every reporting college in that state.

Cite this page

CampusPin Research. “Student debt by college.” CampusPin, snapshot 2026-08-13. https://campuspin.com/tools/student-debt-by-college