HBCUs DOMINATE THE LIST OF HIGHEST STUDENT DEBT AT GRADUATION

🔴 $1.724 trillion. That is the size of federal student debt in the US, and Business Insider just mapped where graduates carry the heaviest loads.

Business Insider used the Department of Education's College Scorecard to rank the 25 universities whose students graduate with the highest median federal debt. The screen: main campuses with at least 500 undergraduate students that predominantly award bachelor's degrees. Public, private nonprofit, for-profit and primarily online schools all made the cut.

One pattern jumped out. 56% of the top 25 are historically Black colleges and universities.

UNCF reports HBCU students borrow at a higher rate than non-HBCU students, and borrow larger amounts, which it links to greater unmet financial need.

Marybeth Gasman, executive director of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions, told Business Insider that HBCUs typically have lower endowments and smaller operating budgets than comparable predominantly white institutions. Less money in the endowment means less institutional aid, and loans fill the gap. She added that some students borrow to support their families too.

The totals are also understated. The Department of Education does not track private loans or federal Parent PLUS loans, so the true bill families carry sits above these figures.

Meanwhile enrollment is shrinking. 19.28 million students were in college in 2024, down from a 21 million peak in 2010, per the Education Data Initiative, even as sticker prices climbed.

Would you take on loans to attend your first-choice school, or go somewhere cheaper?

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