Ranked

795 US colleges ranked by student debt, lowest first

Ordered by median federal debt at graduation — smallest loan first, with what graduates go on to earn beside it. The typical graded US university clears its debt in 1.3 years on median earnings of $57,089 against $22,500 of debt.

#UniversityGradeYou borrowMonthlyYou earnDebt clears in
571 Doane University Nebraska D $25,000 $284 $53,316 1.8 yrs
572 University of Michigan–Flint Michigan D $25,000 $284 $53,230 1.8 yrs
573 Olivet Nazarene University D $25,000 $284 $53,213 1.8 yrs
574 Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania D $25,000 $284 $53,032 1.9 yrs
575 Ashland University D $25,000 $284 $52,928 1.9 yrs
576 Upper Iowa University D $25,000 $284 $52,766 1.9 yrs
577 Longwood University D $25,000 $284 $52,347 2 yrs
578 Friends University D $25,000 $284 $52,113 2 yrs
579 Saginaw Valley State University Michigan D $25,000 $284 $51,955 2 yrs
580 Eastern Michigan University Michigan D $25,000 $284 $51,793 2 yrs
581 Meredith College D $25,000 $284 $51,539 2.1 yrs
582 Buena Vista University D $25,000 $284 $49,156 2.6 yrs
583 University of Maine Maine F $25,000 $284 $48,653 2.7 yrs
584 University of Maine at Machias F $25,000 $284 $48,653 2.7 yrs
585 Bowling Green State University F $25,000 $284 $47,896 3 yrs
586 Coppin State University F $25,000 $284 $46,490 3.6 yrs
587 Auburn University at Montgomery Alabama F $25,000 $284 $44,391 5.1 yrs
588 The University of North Carolina at Pembroke F $25,000 $284 $43,407 6.4 yrs
589 Lander University F $25,000 $284 $42,396 8.7 yrs
590 Columbia College Chicago F $25,000 $284 $42,195 9.4 yrs
591 Troy University Alabama F $25,000 $284 $42,062 9.8 yrs
592 Bentley University Massachusetts A $25,023 $285 $120,959 0.3 yrs
593 Wentworth Institute of Technology A $25,028 $285 $82,721 0.6 yrs
594 Geneva College D $25,198 $287 $50,004 2.4 yrs
595 University of New England C $25,250 $287 $55,921 1.5 yrs
596 Hanover College Indiana D $25,250 $287 $53,957 1.8 yrs
597 Western Illinois University D $25,251 $287 $54,163 1.7 yrs
598 Saint Leo University F $25,278 $287 $48,364 2.9 yrs
599 Mercyhurst University Pennsylvania F $25,305 $288 $47,452 3.2 yrs
600 Drexel University Pennsylvania A $25,325 $288 $84,648 0.6 yrs

Low debt has two very different causes

A university can leave students with little debt because it is genuinely affordable — strong institutional aid, low in-state tuition — or because so few of its students borrow that the median falls to a handful of cases. The earnings column beside it is what separates the two.

What the debt figure leaves out

It counts federal loans only. Private loans, credit cards and parent borrowing sit outside the dataset, so a family that financed college another way appears here as low debt.

Questions

Which US university tops this list?
Doane University — $53,316 median earnings against $25,000 of debt, clearing in about 1.8 years.
How much do US students typically borrow?
Across the 795 universities we grade, median debt at graduation is $22,500 — about $256 a month on the standard ten-year federal plan.
Can scholarships change these numbers?
Directly. Every award comes off the borrowing before you ever repay it, which shortens the payback on each university page. Each page lists the scholarships we hold for that institution.
All payback rankings Fastest payback Highest earnings Scholarships that cut the debt How we calculate this

Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard. Figures cover students who received federal financial aid and blend every subject at each institution. Information only, not financial advice.