<p>So some places, such as College Board, give you information of average indebtedness at graduation.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if this represents the average indebtedness of the entire graduating class, including those who do not take out any loan, or is it the average indebtedness of those students who take out loan.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>It should include all graduates. West Point’s average debt is zero, for example.</p>
<p>You might want to check the exact definition on their website but IIRC it is the average reported indebtedness of one particular cohort (ie. all 2009 grads, not all grads over a 5 year period).</p>
<p>IF the school has a common data set, I would look there as you can look at the data year over year.</p>
<p>Do the stats include Parent Plus loans or private student loans? If not, they can be very misleading.</p>
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<p>I think those stats ARE misleading. They have no way of taking into account the debt folks incur by using home equity loans or refinancing their homes as just two examples. If this is STUDENT debt…then they might be only reporting Stafford/Perkins loan debt and not private cosigned loans…or even loans given by family members.</p>
<p>I wonder how they get their information.</p>
<p>Thumper is right, not all loans are included in student avg debt. It is important that parents do their research and due diligence when it comes to finanical aid,</p>
<p>When schools discuss average indebtness, the coom data set or the college board does not include parent PLUS loans, private loans (HELOC), unsubsidized loans given in excess of need. </p>
<p>Section H1 discusses student loans from all sources (excluding parent loans)</p>
<p>Section H2 of the common data set addresses the following</p>
<p>I. On average, the percentage of need that was met of students who were awarded any need-based aid. **Exclude any aid that was awarded in excess of need as well as any resources that were awarded to replace EFC<a href=“PLUS%20loans,%20unsubsidized%20loans,%20and%20private%20alternative%20loans”>/b</a></p>
<p>J. The average financial aid package of those in line d. Exclude any resources that were awarded to replace EFC (PLUS loans, unsubsidized loans, and private alternative loans)</p>
<p>L. Average need-based self-help award (excluding PLUS loans, unsubsidized loans, and private alternative loans) </p>
<p>M. Average need-based loan (excluding PLUS loans, unsubsidized loans, and private alternative loans)</p>
<p>H$ addresses the following</p>
<p>Provide the percentage of the class (defined above) who borrowed at any time through any loan programs (institutional, state, Federal Perkins, Federal Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized, private loans that were certified by your institution, etc.; exclude parent loans). Include both Federal Direct Student Loans and Federal Family Education Loans.</p>
<p>Provide the percentage of the class (defined above) who borrowed at any time through federal loan programs–Federal Perkins, Federal Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized. Include both Federal Direct Student Loans and Federal Family Education Loans.** NOTE: exclude all institutional, state, private alternative loans and parent loans.**</p>
<p>H5</p>
<p>Report the average per-undergraduate-borrower cumulative principal borrowed of those in line H4.</p>
<p>H5a. ** Report the average per-undergraduate-borrower cumulative principal borrowed, of those in H4a, through federal loan programs–Federal Perkins, Federal Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized. Include both Federal Direct Student Loans and Federal Family Education Loans.** These are listed in line H4a. NOTE: exclude all institutional, state, private alternative loans and exclude parent loans.</p>
<p>The debt amounts are misleading. They don’t include Plus loans, private loans, or home-equity loans. Some of these loans are the type that schools have no way of knowing they exist. </p>
<p>If these debt amounts only include Stafford and Perkins loans, then it would be interesting to know if it includes all students - those who don’t borrow and those who do borrow. To include those who don’t borrow anything is also misleading. Why include those who are either paying full freight or have some kind large merit or similar?</p>
<p>As an aside…those other FA stats on Collegeboard only include the frosh who enroll at the school. Those stats do not include the numerous students who got lousy FA packages who couldn’t enroll. That fact also misleads many students…especially those who are looking at OOS publics. If you need a lot of aid, the school doesn’t meet need, and you don’t qualify for a preferential package, you won’t likely get a package that meets XX% of your need (or whatever CB is reporting).</p>
<p>The debt is reported for those students who are taking out the student loans. Imho, this has always been fairly useless data on an individual level and apparently the government realizes that. OP, you would be better served to use the school’s net price calculator which should give you some idea of the actual cost for your own situation (if that’s what you’re interested in). If the schools don’t have one on their website yet, check to see if College Board does or check back in a few weeks.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone that responded. I guess that number is not as useful as I thought it would be.</p>