Thursday, August 09, 2007

College Costs and Average Debt at Graduation

MSN.com recently published The Best Values in Private Colleges . Although my daughter is still 15 years away from attending college, I thought I'd get grounded on college costs, potential aid and average student loan debt at these colleges. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of aid and the level of debt at graduation. Financial aid was typically about 50% of annual costs for these schools. The average debt at graduation was about 50-60% of one year's cost. I hope this type of value will still be around when our daughter is ready for college and that she will qualify for one of these schools :-) Here is the table republished from the article:

Top 50 private universities
RankSchoolEnrollmentTotal annual costsAfter aidAvg. debt upon graduation
1California Institute of Technology891$41,595 $14,270
$5,395
2Yale University (Conn.)5,409$44,000 $16,068
$14,306
3Harvard University (Mass.)6,649$44,655 $16,338
$8,769
4Rice University (Texas)3,185$37,364 $20,475
$14,166
5Duke University (N.C.)6,534$44,532 $20,604
$24,391
6Princeton University (N.J.)4,906$45,412 $18,944
$4,370
7Massachusetts Institute of Technology4,066$44,650 $20,406
$19,748
8Emory University (Ga.)6,510$43,428 $22,192
$22,175
9Columbia University (N.Y.)4,225$45,844 $23,062
$16,080
10University of Pennsylvania9,841$44,790 $23,074
$21,133
11Dartmouth College (N.H.)4,110$44,661 $20,547
$19,305
12Stanford University (Calif.)6,576$45,076 $20,832
$15,172
13Vanderbilt University (Tenn.)6,402$45,434 $20,360
$19,585
14Brown University (R.I.)6,176$44,882 $25,005
$16,040
15Northwestern University (Ill.)8,023$45,162 $23,673
$18,362
16Georgetown University (D.C.)6,719$46,546 $27,246
$23,700
17University of Notre Dame (Ind.)8,275$42,990 $24,694
$25,986
18Tufts University (Mass.)5,078$46,124 $23,659
$14,400
19Brandeis University (Mass.)3,267$44,525 $25,905
$21,437
20Wake Forest University (N.C.)4,263$41,790 $24,993
$22,831
21Trinity University (Texas)2,524$30,797 $19,970
N/A
22University of Richmond (Va.)2,920$43,660 $23,346
$18,500
23Cornell University (N.Y.)13,515$45,211 $24,611
$23,450
24Boston College9,019$45,974 $27,632
$15,723
25Johns Hopkins University (Md.)4,417$46,022 $28,246
$14,000
26Providence College (R.I.)3,912$37,910 $28,910
$23,000
27Elon University (N.C.)4,702$28,925 $22,126
$21,687
28Bentley College (Mass.)4,294$41,300 $24,545
$27,132
29University of Southern California, Los Angeles16,897$44,786 $26,305
$19,131
30Emerson College (Mass.)3,373$37,444 $26,598
$16,222
31Case Western Reserve University (Ohio)3,949$42,058 $23,667
$20,597
32Whitworth College (Wash.)2,179$31,756 $19,333
$18,246
33University of Chicago4,671$47,472 $47,472
N/A
34New York University20,566$45,850 $33,258
$29,480
35Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.)5,623$44,803 $28,167
$26,500
36Villanova University (Pa.)7,208$43,620 $27,418
$28,549
37Loyola College (Md.)3,556$42,798 $30,013
$15,680
38Marquette University (Wis.)8,010$34,478 $23,033
$26,345
39Xavier University (Ohio)3,879$33,645 $23,773
$19,300
40Drake University (Iowa)3,141$30,082 $19,363
$25,691
41Hood College (Md.)1,183$32,590 $18,691
$17,392
42Gonzaga University (Wash.)4,152$32,865 $21,033
$23,113
43Fordham University (N.Y.)7,528$43,335 $28,239
$16,590
44Santa Clara University (Calif.)4,638$42,594 $26,604
$17,620
45University of Miami (Fla.)10,537$41,492 $24,235
$19,140
46Butler University (Ind.)3,651$32,744 $19,894
N/A
47Valparaiso University (Ind.)2,964$31,640 $19,503
$23,853
48Boston University18,694$45,294 $26,463
$21,196
49Syracuse University (N.Y.)11,441$41,984 $26,964
$19,200
50Marist College (N.Y.)4,896$33,681 $24,582
$20,419

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't you believe this list. My child attends one of these, and the expected cost is already $5K too low. Further, this "cost" somehow never seems to address $740 parking permits, $1400/yr books, hundreds more in meals not covered under their plan, traveling costs for their groups, complete sports packages, $800 medical insurance if needed, costs for flights to/from home. Your child better have oustanding ballhandling skills, be a minority and have a penis. Otherwise, you will be awarded loans while the aforementioned group gets full rides. Such is the state of HIGHER EDUCATION today.

Super Saver said...

Anonymous,

Thanks for your detailed and colorful comment:-)

Good point that actual individual situations will likely be different than the averages.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, thanks for confirming two things: that this list was off and that racism still exists.

Super Saver,thanks for conflating overt racism with "colorful" commentary.

Super Saver said...

@ Anonymous 2,

Thanks for your comment and interesting opinion.

I did not see the racism to which you refer in the comment by Anonymous 1. Racism is the assignment of inherent superiority or inferiority due primarily to race. Mentioning race is not racism. Stating an opinion that athletic ability, race and gender impact financial aid is not racist.

Anonymous said...

First of all I go to one of the schools mentioned above. The debt is exactly what they mention here. I am a "minority" and did not receiver any of the scholarships...I have to get LOANS! Very ignorant of anyone to mention that people get full rides because of there race, simply not true. Maybe you should have your child go to a public school instead.

Anonymous said...

Interesting list. I'd like to point out (if not for the author, for those who, like me, stumbled upon this chart by Google) that the average debt at graduation is not an especially meaningful statistic, especially at schools like Harvard and Princeton, where people often don't have debt at graduation because they come from wealthy families. It's also quite telling that Yale's ADG is 63% higher than Harvards, although they have virtually the same annual costs and aid amounts, implying that the schools are probably using different methods of calculating the "average".

I got all-tuition-paid at my school through National Merit, but I still look like graduating with $20,000 worth of debt for room and board alone. Parental assistance is the key to graduating with low debt. Frugal living is a must as well, so it's best if she learns to shop smart early.