Forbes recently released its annual list of America's top universities for 2024 to 2025, recognizing institutions based on factors including alumni salaries, student debt, graduation rates, American leaders award recipients, return on investment, retention rates and academic success.
Students graduating from one of the top 25 schools on the list join the workforce with between $4,000 and $17,000 in debt on average, according to the report.
Average debt incurred by students at the top 25 universities in America:
1. Princeton (N.J.) University: $7,559
2. Stanford (Calif.) University: $12,999
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge): $13,792
4. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.): $4,926
5. University of California, Berkeley: $7,238
6. Columbia University (New York City): $16,849
7. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia): $12,499
8. Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.): $9,004
9. Rice University (Houston): $10,818
10. Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.): $8,309
11. Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.): $6,973
12. Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore): $9,843
13. University of California, Los Angeles: $6,418
14. University of Chicago: $12,150
15. Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn.): $8,872
16. Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.): $6,404
17. Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.): $4,143
18. Brown University (Providence, R.I.): $10,059
19. Claremont (Calif.) McKenna College: $7,631
20. Duke University (Durham, N.C.): $6,351
21. University of California San Diego: $6,437
22. California Institute of Technology (Pasadena): $12,553
23. Wellesley (Mass.) College: $5,608
24. Amherst (Mass.) College: $9,293
25. Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine): $10,512