Graduates of top public universities often carry more debt than peers at Ivy League schools
The student debt load of many top private university graduates is lower that the debt load of their peer graduates at top public universities, according to a recent Reuters report.
The report tallied the average debt load at the University of Michigan as about $27,000. Conversely, the average debt load at Princeton University is roughly $5,000, at Yale University is roughly $9,000 and at Harvard University is roughly $11,000.
Forty-four percent of U-M and University of California at Los Angeles students take out loans to attend, whereas less than 30 percent of Harvard, Yale and Princeton students acquire loans, according to the Reuters report.
"Thanks to generous financial aid policies and large endowments, students may find that an Ivy League degree, for example, often requires less borrowing than a degree from many much less expensive state schools," the report states.
Read the full Reuters report here.
Comments
Jay Thomas
Sat, May 12, 2012 : 9:24 p.m.
Schools like Harvard are now international schools that just happen to be located in the U.S. All that endowment money given over the years goes to subsidize foreigners.
Steve
Sat, May 12, 2012 : 11:08 a.m.
In 1970, about 70% of state school tuition costs were paid by us as taxpayers. Today it's about 13%. Mitt Romney "earned" $20,000,000 last year, while full professors average about $150,000. Overpaid teachers???Really!!! Maybe we should quit picking on teachers, and trying to break their unions, and question whether we as a nation really STILL value an educated work force.
clownfish
Sat, May 12, 2012 : 12:45 p.m.
pretty good "earnings" for "Mitt", considering he does not actually work anymore. His compensation is a hidden tax on all of us that buy products sold from stores/companies that have to pay him to do nothing for the rest of his life.
DwightSchrute
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 11:49 p.m.
No-brainer. Kids at the Ivy Leagues often either quality for hefty scholarships and grants, or come with a case of silver spoons for breakfast.
dotdash
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 11:43 p.m.
Maybe the right comparison is to look at amount of debt by SAT score. High SATs mean you are more likely to get into a better school with a better endowment and better financial aid and also more likely to get a merit scholarship.
Ed Kimball
Sat, May 12, 2012 : 2:25 p.m.
The Ivy League schools no longer issue merit scholarships, only need-based scholarships. There are, however, merit scholarships available that are independent of the schools.
Andy Price
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 10:12 p.m.
Interestingly, over the last decade, tuition at state universities has risen much higher than at private colleges. This is because public schools rely on funding from the states, which has of course been cut drastically every year since 2001, but since private colleges do not rely on such funding they have not had to raise to tuition to make up for cuts. As a result, one would assume that you might be able to find cheaper tuition and a comparable education at a private college right now, which certainly goes against the longtime perception that private will always be more expensive than public.
Andy Price
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 10:14 p.m.
I should clarify that I mean private non-profit colleges, NOT private for-profit colleges like University of Phoenix and the like. They raise their tuition to whatever students can get loans for. A total scam which should be avoided at all costs.
snoopdog
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 9:58 p.m.
Ivy League kids have wealthier parents who pay for their education. But hey, the average salary for a prof at U of M was right around 150K. Takes a lot of money to pay their salaries , benefits and healthcare. Then add in the cost to run the place and all the buildings and maintenance. At some point, we are all going to get tired of the yearly double digit rate increases these universities charge, at least I hope ! Good Day
Robert Granville
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 9:03 p.m.
Ivy League schools meet 100% of demonstrated financial need and a few of them charge nothing at all for households making under a certain income... it was 60,000 when I was applying for college. Attending private school was an easy choice for me. Of course, the cheapest route would've been one of the less heralded public universities on full scholarship... but that would've been a very near-sighted decision considering today's post-graduate job climate.
justcurious
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 5:56 p.m.
Silly no brainer. Ivy League kids have richer parents than Public University kids in general.
aamom
Sat, May 12, 2012 : 5:38 p.m.
Interesting question Trespass. I don't know the answer, but I guess $250,000.
trespass
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 10:40 p.m.
The average family income for a student at UM is $180,000 (according to Provost Hanlon). I wonder what the family income of Ivy League parents is?
Forever27
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 5:07 p.m.
this is a skewed conclusion. think about the pool of people being compared here. A vast majority of those attending top public schools have to take out loans to even consider attending. While a significantly smaller percentage of the student body at Ivy League schools has to use student loans to attend. this is not an apples to apples comparison.
Mr. Me
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 5:56 p.m.
That's definitely part of it, but the Ivy schools also give more grant aid to students who do need a subsidy. You can be from a household that makes a solidly middle-class income and they'll waive most of the cost of attending (if they admit you).
Stephen
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 4:53 p.m.
Myself- 32000 debt University of Michigan Ann Arbor in-state My sister- 16000 debt Northwestern out-of-state I guess I was the fool thinking in-state was cheaper....
aamom
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 9:02 p.m.
"If your financial needs are over 75% of of the entire cost of the degree, you should not have gone to college." Perhaps rather than suggesting to skip college altogether, M meant to say that there are other good, cheaper in state universities to choose from? I hope so.
M
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 5:37 p.m.
Fordie, are you saying that you should take out decades worth of debt to stop the cycle of poverty? (Seriously, I don't get what you're saying).
Fordie
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 5:34 p.m.
"If your financial needs are over 75% of of the entire cost of the degree, you should not have gone to college." Yes, by all means, let's keep that cycle of poverty going.
M
Fri, May 11, 2012 : 5:27 p.m.
Myself - $7,000 in debt to U-M AA. My entire degree cost about $44,000. If your financial needs are over 75% of of the entire cost of the degree, you should not have gone to college.