Parents are borrowing more than ever to send their children to college. Last year, one out of every four dollars in federal loans given out for undergraduate education went to people paying for a kid or grandkid's studies through the federal Parent PLUS loan program, with an average loan of $16,305—two to three times the maximum amount that traditional students are allowed to borrow in a single school year.
Over four or more years of college, the size of these parent loans often reach staggering amounts. An exclusive Newsweek analysis of federal data on PLUS loans has identified more than 150 schools where the median amount that parents borrow while their child is in school exceeds the maximum $27,000 that traditional undergraduates are allowed to borrow. The typical loan at the 50 schools that Newsweek has identified where parents borrow the most starts at nearly double that amount: $50,190. And at the school where parents borrow the absolute most, half take out loans of $84,000 or more.
How do the numbers get so big for parents, compared to their kids? Unlike the low annual caps placed on loans to undergraduates, parents are allowed to borrow up to the full cost of attendance each year (including room and board, fees, books and travel) minus any financial aid the student receives. That can add up quickly, considering that the typical four-year public institution cost $38,640 last year, including tuition, fees, room and board, while the tab hit $50,770 at the average private college or university.
Those private schools dominate the list of colleges where parents borrow the most, accounting for 46 of the 50 academic institutions named. Only one school on the list is a public college, Citadel Military College of South Carolina, and the remaining three are for-profit institutions.
Worth noting for families with a student interested in the arts: Eight of the colleges in the top 50 are art schools, with six of them landing among the 10 most expensive schools in terms of PLUS borrowing, led by Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York and Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida.
Although the amounts typically borrowed at all 50 of these schools are large, most parents do manage to keep up with payments. Within two years, 10 percent or more of parents are late paying their monthly bill or in default at just six of the schools on Newsweek's list.
There's a clear payoff to the borrowing for families too: Graduation rates at most of the colleges on this list are above the national average of 63 percent who earn their degree after six years of attendance.
The following are the 50 colleges and universities where parents took on the most PLUS debt, along with information on the portion of families struggling with those loans, the school's eight-year graduation rate and the share of lower-income parents taking on such debt at each school.
50. University of Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Graduation rate: 77%
Median loan amount: $42,326
Default and delinquency rate: 3%
Low-income borrowers: 38%
49. Roger Williams University
Bristol, Rhode Island
Graduation rate: 59%
Median loan amount: $42,500
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 36%
48. Otis College of Art and Design
Los Angeles, California
Graduation rate: 64%
Median loan amount: $42,968
Default and delinquency rate: 5%
Low-income borrowers: 69%
47. Stevenson University
Location: Stevenson, Maryland
Graduation rate: 59%
Median loan amount: $43,000
Default and delinquency rate: 9%
Low-income borrowers: 50%
46. Champlain College
Burlington, Vermont
Graduation rate: 61%
Median loan amount: $43,374
Default and delinquency rate: 5%
Low-income borrowers: 40%
45. Marymount Manhattan College
New York, New York
Graduation rate: 47%
Median loan amount: $43,450
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 47%
44. University of Miami
Coral Gables, Florida
Graduation rate: 83%
Median loan amount: $43,807
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 46%
43. New York Film Academy
Burbank, California
Graduation rate: 71%
Median loan amount: $43,907
Default and delinquency rate: 9%
Low-income borrowers: 59%
42. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, Massachusetts
Graduation rate: 88%
Median loan amount: $43,921
Default and delinquency rate: 4%
Low-income borrowers: 35%
41. Sacred Heart University
Fairfield, Connecticut
Graduation rate: 64%
Median loan amount: $44,000
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 39%
40. Citadel Military College of South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Graduation rate: 74%
Median loan amount: $44,318
Default and delinquency rate: 7%
Low-income borrowers: 34%
39. West Coast University-Los Angeles
North Hollywood, California
Graduation rate: 64%
Median loan amount: $44,376
Default and delinquency rate: 5%
Low-income borrowers: 76%
38. University of the Pacific
Stockton, California
Graduation rate: 73%
Median loan amount: $44,468
Default and delinquency rate: 5%
Low-income borrowers: 54%
37. Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Graduation rate: 74%
Median loan amount: $44,749
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 48%
36. St. John's University-New York
Queens, New York
Graduation rate: 60%
Median loan amount: $44,887
Default and delinquency rate: 11%
Low-income borrowers: 56%
35. George Washington University
Washington, D.C.
Graduation rate: 82%
Median loan amount: $45,000
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 36%
34. Baylor University
Waco, Texas
Graduation rate: 75%
Median loan amount: $46,668
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 47%
33. Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts
Graduation rate: 86%
Median loan amount: $46,768
Default and delinquency rate: 7%
Low-income borrowers: 40%
32. University of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
Graduation rate: 76%
Median loan amount: $47,920
Default and delinquency rate: 4%
Low-income borrowers: 46%
31. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Graduation rate: 92%
Median loan amount: $48,307
Default and delinquency rate: 3%
Low-income borrowers: 42%
30. Hampton University
Hampton, Virginia
Graduation rate: 49%
Median loan amount: $48,606
Default and delinquency rate: 11%
Low-income borrowers: 54%
29. Boston College
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Graduation rate: 91%
Median loan amount: $49,000
Default and delinquency rate: 4%
Low-income borrowers: 26%
28. Morehouse College
Atlanta, Georgia
Graduation rate: 55%
Median loan amount: $49,087
Default and delinquency rate: 11%
Low-income borrowers: 65%
27. Hofstra University
Hempstead, New York
Graduation rate: 63%
Median loan amount: $49,197
Default and delinquency rate: 10%
Low-income borrowers: 47%
26. Loyola University Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Graduation rate: 82%
Median loan amount: $49,245
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 33%
25. Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, Texas
Graduation rate: 78%
Median loan amount: $49,248
Default and delinquency rate: 4%
Low-income borrowers: 32%
24. Bryant University
Smithfield, Rhode Island
Graduation rate: 78%
Median loan amount: $50,511
Default and delinquency rate: 5%
Low-income borrowers: 37%
23. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach
Daytona Beach, Florida
Graduation rate: 60%
Median loan amount: $50,696
Default and delinquency rate: 5%
Low-income borrowers: 54%
22. Drexel University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Graduation rate: 66%
Median loan amount: $50,758
Default and delinquency rate: 7%
Low-income borrowers: 46%
21. The New School
New York, New York
Graduation rate: 71%
Median loan amount: $51,635
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 59%
20. Saint Mary's College of California
Moraga, California
Graduation rate: 76%
Median loan amount: $52,037
Default and delinquency rate: 4%
Low-income borrowers: 44%
19. Belmont University
Nashville, Tennessee
Graduation rate: 71%
Median loan amount: $52,490
Default and delinquency rate: 4%
Low-income borrowers: 33%
18. Fordham University
Bronx, New York
Graduation rate: 77%
Median loan amount: $52,686
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 32%
17. American University
Washington, D.C.
Graduation rate: 79%
Median loan amount: $52,884
Default and delinquency rate: 5%
Low-income borrowers: 36%
16. MCPHS University
Boston, Massachusetts
Graduation rate: 82%
Median loan amount: $53,794
Default and delinquency rate: 7%
Low-income borrowers: 62%
15. Saint Joseph's University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Graduation rate: 78%
Median loan amount: $54,068
Default and delinquency rate: 4%
Low-income borrowers: 28%
14. Howard University
Washington, D.C.
Graduation rate: 62%
Median loan amount: $54,285
Default and delinquency rate: 13%
Low-income borrowers: 68%
13. The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C.
Graduation rate: 72%
Median loan amount: $54,628
Default and delinquency rate: 8%
Low-income borrowers: 33%
12. Quinnipiac University
Hamden, Connecticut
Graduation rate: 76%
Median loan amount: $57,949
Default and delinquency rate: 7%
Low-income borrowers: 36%
11. University of San Diego
San Diego, California
Graduation rate: 80%
Median loan amount: $59,252
Default and delinquency rate: 5%
Low-income borrowers: 39%
10. Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles, California
Graduation rate: 82%
Median loan amount: $60,500
Default and delinquency rate: 4%
Low-income borrowers: 43%
9. American Musical and Dramatic Academy
New York, New York
Graduation rate: 66%
Median loan amount: $61,411
Default and delinquency rate: 10%
Low-income borrowers: 60%
8. New York University
New York, New York
Graduation rate: 85%
Median loan amount: $66,687
Default and delinquency rate: 5%
Low-income borrowers: 46%
7. Savannah College of Art and Design
Savannah, Georgia
Graduation rate: 65%
Median loan amount: $66,714
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 51%
6. School of Visual Arts
New York, New York
Graduation rate: 68%
Median loan amount: $70,445
Default and delinquency rate: 9%
Low-income borrowers: 60%
5. Berklee College of Music
Boston, Massachusetts
Graduation rate: 63%
Median loan amount: $72,056
Default and delinquency rate: 8%
Low-income borrowers: 44%
4. High Point University
High Point, North Carolina
Graduation rate: 63%
Median loan amount: $73,101
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 32%
3. Ringling College of Art and Design
Sarasota, Florida
Graduation rate: 67%
Median loan amount: $76,470
Default and delinquency rate: 3%
Low-income borrowers: 56%
2. Pratt Institute
Brooklyn, New York
Graduation rate: 69%
Median loan amount: $76,882
Default and delinquency rate: 6%
Low-income borrowers: 54%
1. Spelman College
Atlanta, Georgia
Graduation rate: 77%
Median loan amount: $84,671
Default and delinquency rate: 9%
Low-income borrowers: 66%
Notes: Data is from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2019. Default is defined as failure to make payments for more than 360 days, delinquent as failure to pay for 31 to 360 days. Median loan amount represents how much parents borrowed for each student who graduated or otherwise left school during the two-year period. Eligibility for a federal Pell grant, given to students with exceptional financial need, is used as a proxy for low-income borrowers; the data represents the percentage of Parent PLUS borrowers whose student is eligible for a Pell grant. Graduation rates are over eight years and current as of July 20,2021.
Source: College Scorecard, U.S. Department of Education
Correction 7/21/2021, 11:25 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to reflect the correct eight-year graduation rate for High Point University, as reported by the Department of Education's College Scorecard.
About the writer
Kerri Anne Renzulli is personal finance journalist based in London; she's written for Money, Financial Planning magazine and CNBC.
