Ranked

810 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 $57,146 against $22,500 of debt.

#UniversityGradeYou borrowMonthlyYou earnDebt clears in
691 Rochester Institute of Technology New York B $26,778 $304 $76,571 0.7 yrs
692 Indiana University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania D $26,798 $305 $51,019 2.3 yrs
693 Hope College Michigan C $26,800 $305 $58,427 1.4 yrs
694 Newberry College South Carolina F $26,805 $305 $48,040 3.2 yrs
695 Champlain College Vermont C $26,814 $305 $58,386 1.4 yrs
696 Walla Walla University Washington C $26,842 $305 $61,885 1.2 yrs
697 Concordia College - Moorhead Minnesota C $26,847 $305 $59,317 1.4 yrs
698 Bryant University Rhode Island A $26,849 $305 $90,008 0.5 yrs
699 University of Indianapolis Indiana D $26,864 $305 $53,610 1.9 yrs
700 Suffolk University Massachusetts B $26,889 $306 $67,506 1 yrs
701 Capital University Ohio D $26,889 $306 $54,143 1.8 yrs
702 Hampshire College Massachusetts F $26,893 $306 $46,938 3.6 yrs
703 Saint Michael's College Vermont C $26,922 $306 $61,317 1.2 yrs
704 Roger Williams University Rhode Island B $26,940 $306 $70,266 0.9 yrs
705 Valparaiso University Indiana C $26,942 $306 $63,191 1.1 yrs
706 College of Saint Benedict Minnesota C $26,944 $306 $63,260 1.1 yrs
707 Robert Morris University Pennsylvania C $26,950 $306 $62,105 1.2 yrs
708 Woodbury University California C $26,960 $307 $65,668 1 yrs
709 Winthrop University South Carolina F $26,975 $307 $47,185 3.5 yrs
710 Central College Iowa D $26,984 $307 $54,317 1.8 yrs
711 Barry University Florida C $26,997 $307 $55,966 1.6 yrs
712 Gettysburg College Pennsylvania B $26,999 $307 $71,517 0.8 yrs
713 Stevens Institute of Technology New Jersey A $27,000 $307 $108,772 0.4 yrs
714 Worcester Polytechnic Institute Massachusetts A $27,000 $307 $103,470 0.4 yrs
715 Kettering University Michigan A $27,000 $307 $94,823 0.5 yrs
716 Bucknell University Pennsylvania A $27,000 $307 $93,807 0.5 yrs
717 College of the Holy Cross Massachusetts A $27,000 $307 $90,543 0.5 yrs
718 Milwaukee School of Engineering Wisconsin A $27,000 $307 $89,070 0.5 yrs
719 Providence College Rhode Island A $27,000 $307 $87,054 0.6 yrs
720 Dominican University of California California B $27,000 $307 $84,713 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?
Rochester Institute of Technology — $76,571 median earnings against $26,778 of debt, clearing in about 0.7 years.
How much do US students typically borrow?
Across the 810 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.

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.