Student Loan Debt: What Pittsburgh Area Colleges Have Highest Average Debt Per Borrower?

PITTSBURGH, PA - A recent study shows that Pennsylvania has the highest average student debt per borrower, and students emerge from some Pittsburgh area colleges and universities carrying even more debt than the $35,185 state average.

According to recent data analyzed by LendEdu, a student loan refinancing company, the average student loan debt per borrower for the class of 2016 is $27,975, a decrease of 1.5 percent from the class of 2015.

LendEdu collected its data from the annual Peterson's voluntary financial aid survey that collected responses from 1,161 institutions. The data is self reported by colleges and universities, and only data from four-year public and private nonprofit colleges and universities was analyzed. LendEdu used a weighting system to calculate the average student debt per borrower per state. LendEdu notes that the data was provided by colleges on a voluntary basis and LendEdu did not audit the accuracy of the data.

Keeping those caveats in mind, here is the average debt burden for students graduating from Pittsburgh area institutions of higher learning:

• Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus

Average student debt: $42,291
Graduates with student debt: 80 percent.

• Duquesne University

Average student debt: $41,272
Graduates with student debt: 59 percent.

• Robert Morris University

Average student debt: $39,431
Graduates with student debt: 82 percent.

• University of Pittsburgh

Average student debt: $38,612
Graduates with student debt: 65 percent.

• Chatham University

Average student debt: $37,734
Graduates with student debt: 83 percent.

• LaRoche College

Average student debt: $34,992
Graduates with student debt: 79 percent.

• Carnegie Mellon University

Average student debt: $30,866
Graduates with student debt 51 percent.

• Point Park University

Average student debt: $26,729
Graduates with student debt: 80 percent.

Photo by Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press