PROVIDENCE – Students graduating from Rhode Island-based four-year public and nonprofit private colleges and universities in 2016 entered the job market carrying the nation’s tenth largest amount of student loan debt – an average $30,549 per borrower – according to a report released Thursday by Hoboken, New Jersey-based LendEdu.
While the state’s per borrower average dropped 13.1 percent from the 2014-2015 academic year, when it was the second highest in the nation, the student loan refinancing website found 61 percent of the Class of 2016 to graduate from Rhode Island schools hold student loan debt.
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The report broke down average student debt per borrower, percent of graduates with student debt, average private student debt per borrower and percent of graduates with private student debt for seven of Rhode Island’s 11 total public and private colleges and universities and compared it to results of the same study from 2015.
The Rhode Island school with the most graduates in debt is University of Rhode Island (77 percent), but the largest amount of debt is held by Roger Williams University graduates – an average $41,632.
Year-over-year, the amount of debt per borrower increased among private school students at Brown University, Roger Williams University and Providence College. In addition, more than half of the Class of 2016 from RWU (58 percent), PC (70 percent) and Salve Regina University (69 percent) have student loan debt.
More than 70 percent of graduates from the two public schools ranked in the report – URI and Rhode Island College – had debt when they graduated.
There was a 300 percent jump in the percent of graduates with private student debt at Brown University, the state’s only Ivy League institution.
- Roger Williams University
- State Rank: No. 1
- Overall Rank: No. 40
- Average student debt per borrower: $41,632 (an increase of 2.5 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with student debt: 58 percent (a dip of 14.7 percent from 2015)
- Average private student debt per borrower: $50,868 (an increase of 15.7 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with private student debt: 20 percent (a dip of 25.9 percent from 2015)
- Providence College
- State Rank: No. 2
- Overall Rank: No. 74
- Average student debt per borrower: $39,775 (an increase of 5.4 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with student debt: 70 percent (an increase of 9.4 percent from 2015)
- Average private student debt per borrower: $48,624 (an increase of 11.6 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with private student debt: 15 percent (an increase of 7.1 percent from 2015)
- University of Rhode Island
- State Rank: No. 3
- Overall Rank: No. 353
- Average student debt per borrower: $32,750 (an increase of 0.5 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with student debt: 77 percent (an increase of 8.4 percent from 2015)
- Average private student debt per borrower: $37,421 (an increase of 3.8 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with private student debt: 19 percent (an increase of 18.7 percent from 2015)
- Rhode Island School of Design
- State Rank: No. 4
- Overall Rank: No. 457
- Average student debt per borrower: $31,037 (a dip of 3 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with student debt: 41 percent (a dip of 14.6 percent from 2015)
- Average private student debt per borrower: $43,399 (an increase of 4.7 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with private student debt: 5 percent (a dip of 44.4 percent from 2015)
- Salve Regina University
- State Rank: No. 5
- Overall Rank: No. 576
- Average student debt per borrower: $29,192 (a dip of 22.9 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with student debt: 69 percent (a dip of 20.7 percent from 2015)
- Average private student debt per borrower: Information not provided by the school
- Percent of graduates with private student debt: Information not provided by the school
- Rhode Island College
- State Rank: No. 6
- Overall Rank: No. 781
- Average student debt per borrower: $26,519 (a dip of 0.4 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with student debt: 72 percent (a dip of 4 percent from 2015)
- Average private student debt per borrower: $19,635 (a dip of 1.3 percent form 2015)
- Percent of graduates with private student debt: 15 percent (an increase of 15.4 percent from 2015)
- Brown University
- State Rank: No. 7
- Overall Rank: No. 921
- Average student debt per borrower: $23,810 (an increase of 7.3 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with student debt: 37 percent (an increase of 8.8 percent from 2015)
- Average private student debt per borrower: $50,398 (an increase of 8 percent from 2015)
- Percent of graduates with private student debt: 4 percent (a 300 percent increase from 2015)
Sixty-one percent of graduates from Massachusetts schools hold student loan debt. The Bay State ranked No. 9 in the nation with an average debt per borrower of $30,584 – a 2.6 percent decrease from 2015 findings.
Findings for the Class of 2016 show graduates from Utah schools hold the least amount of average student loan debt, $18,810, a 0.2 percent increase from 2015. Whereas those from Pennsylvania hold the highest, $35,185, a 1.8 percent increase from 2015.
The school with the highest average student debt per borrower for the Class of 2016 is Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana at $59,113, a 41.4 percent bump from 2015. At $5,475 the school with the least average student debt per borrower for the Class of 2016 is Troy University out of Troy, Alabama. A 2015 comparison was not available for Troy University.
The report found, across the nation, 59.8 percent of graduates from four-year public and nonprofit colleges and universities hold student loan debt – an increase of 0.15 percentage points form 2015. Also, the average student loan debt nationwide was $30,281 per borrower for the 62 percent of private institution graduates who borrowed. Public institutions doled out an average $26,828 in student loan debt per borrower; 58 percent of public school graduates across the U.S borrowed.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
