<p>I've searched on CC but can't come up anything. Is there a website that lists colleges and average debt of students when they come out? Any suggestions appreciated...!</p>
<p>you can go to the college board website. </p>
<p>Type in the school, click the financial aid tab.</p>
<p>if your school has a common data set, the information will be there.</p>
<p>I ended up finding it by doing a search on the college website I was interested in for "common data" - found the page and amount - listed $38,000 - whoa, that's a lot of money! We should be able to beat that...</p>
<p>I'll have to check a couple of others...</p>
<p>The premium version of US News and World Report is on-line and costs $15 for a year subscription. It gives you average debt upon graduation, average grants each year, etc.</p>
<p>Perhaps twenty years of analyzing financial has made me cynical, but I can't see how aggregate data like this helps a specific individual. (I understand that the average income for people who live on Bill Gates street is roughly $20 Million, even though noone on the street makes within $15 Million of that figure. Huh?) If all students had the same indebtedness and if parental loans were included then I could see the value, but ....</p>
<p>All of the debt data is misleading. It shows student debt, not parental debt. Students from families in the $100-$160k range often show no debt in the college records - the parents take out the loans, and either gift the funds to their kids by paying it themselves, or make informal agreements with their kids.</p>
<p>High debt schools are sometimes those which are most generous with financial aid, but you'd never know it from the published data.</p>
<p>Instead of US News, use this free resource, which not only shows average debt, but also breaks down subsidized and unsubsidized debt. You can also easily compare and contrast colleges:
<a href="http://www.economicdiversity.org%5B/url%5D">http://www.economicdiversity.org</a></p>
<p>Mini, however, is correct. None of the debt information gives you straight answers on parental debt. Therefore, it is particularly important to ask each and every college this question: What percentage of students who have financial need have their full demonstrated need met? If the number is 50% or less, assume that they'll be a good chance that your child will be "gapped" and you will have to come up with outside funding to fill the gap. </p>
<p>Also keep in mind that your students' FA package may very well differ from the "average" depending on where he/she lies in the applicant pool - lower loan amounts tend to go towards more desirable candidates.</p>
<p>You may also want to read through the Project on Student Debt website, which has number breakdowns for average student debt by state and private/public so you have something to compare the above numbers to -- just knowing that college XYZ has a typical student debt load of $X number of dollars doesn't tell you whether that is reasonable or not compared to overall averages. So, put things in perspective.
<a href="http://projectonstudentdebt.org/%5B/url%5D">http://projectonstudentdebt.org/</a></p>
<p>Finally, don't run scared from student debt. Use some of the online calculators to realistically assess whether a certain amount will be reasonable based on future earnings potential.
Two good calculators:
<a href="http://www.mapping-your-future.org/apps/debtwizard/%5B/url%5D">http://www.mapping-your-future.org/apps/debtwizard/</a> Mapping your future debt wizard
<a href="http://csumentor.edu/FinAid/SLOPE%5B/url%5D">http://csumentor.edu/FinAid/SLOPE</a> - calculator lets you look at debt scenarios for income of different careers.</p>
<p>I have many more such links on my blog, but I am not allowed to link to it here. If you click on my name, and then my homepage, you will be able to find it.</p>
<p>Mini,
good point about parental vs. student debt.</p>
<p>OP,
Keep in mind that avg. debt upon graduation data for '06 grads will be at least 5 years old by the time the time this year's cohort of HS seniors graduate from college.</p>