The Highest Student Debt Among American Universities

College debt can play a much bigger role in one’s future than most students realize. The level of debt a student carries can shape where they settle, which jobs they feel confident pursuing, and how much financial freedom they have in those first crucial years after graduation.

According to new data published by TuitionHero, certain universities graduate students with much more debt than others – and you may be surprised which universities fall into which group.

TuitionHero took both median graduate debt figures from the U.S. Department of Education (2022–23) and data from Forbes’ Top 100 Colleges, and what they found was that the schools’ debt profiles actually flip common assumptions.

THE UNIVERSITIES LEADING FOR MOST STUDENT DEBT

A school that looks expensive upfront may actually be the smarter long‑term investment – sometimes leaving students with half the debt of a supposedly affordable public university.

At the top of the high‑debt list sits Bucknell University, where graduates leave with a median of $27,000 in loans, followed by Villanova, Northeastern, and Boston University. Meanwhile, schools like Wellesley, Johns Hopkins, and Princeton send students into the world with far lighter debt, often around $10,000.

“Prestigious private universities may, in many cases, leave students better off financially than public institutions,” says Peter Duncan from the Markets Herald. This is also supported by the New America Foundation, which shows that declining state funding has pushed public universities to rely more heavily on tuition and therefore raise prices for low‑ and middle‑income students.

TuitionHero CEO Jesse Villanueva says families should look beyond sticker price and focus on what students actually pay after aid.

MORE INSIGHTS

Geographically, Boston stands out as a student‑debt hotspot, with Northeastern, BU, and Boston College all ranking among the 25 worst schools for median graduate debt. Over in the western region of the U.S, the University of California system consistently keeps debt levels modest, with UC Berkeley grads leaving with a median debt of just $13,000.

Next Page: What Faculty and Students Really Think of AI

© Copyright 2026 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.