So the drain on student loans is not from the elite schools, Brown said. In fact, he noted that most of the Ivy League schools rose to the top in the 250 schools with the overall lowest debt. Princeton students, for instance, only borrowed $9,059 in loans. Harvard students borrowed $13,372, and Yale students borrowed $14,575.
The report also showed that the top five states with the lowest average debt by borrower in addition to California are Utah with $19,747, followed by New Mexico with $22,115. Alaska was third with an average of $22,155, and Nevada with $22,600 rounded out the top five states with the least student loan debt.
LendEDU also compared the percentage difference in average student loan debt from the Class of 2017 to 2018. Alaska saw the highest drop at 12.6%. Alabama graduates saw a 7.21% drop. Colorado graduates’ student loan debt decreased by 6.67%. Kansas saw a decrease of 3.95% and Oklahoma saw a decrease of 3.9%.
On the other hand, Connecticut had the biggest percentage increase at 22.54%, followed by Washington D.C. at 14.23%, New Hampshire came in third with 9.84%, West Virginia followed with 9.78% and New Jersey rounded out the top five with 9.09%.