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10 MBA Programs Where Graduates Leave With the Most Debt

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College and The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search.

When it comes to student loan debt, graduate students get slammed.

In fact, about 40 percent of the approximately $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt comes from graduate and professional degrees, according to a 2014 report from the New America Foundation.

Unfortunately for prospective MBA recipients, those programs don't buck the trend. Among the class of 2014, the average debt load for those who borrowed was $56,157, according to data reported to U.S. News by 84 ranked schools.

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That amounts to about $635 in monthly student loan payments over the course of a standard 10-year repayment plan, according to a student loan repayment estimator. That figure assumes 6.41 percent interest, which was the 2013-2014 rate for federal Graduate PLUS loans. And that doesn't include any debt borrowed for an undergraduate degree.

[Understand how student loan repayment changes after graduate school.]

If that sounds tough, imagine graduating from New York University, where the average loan bill for borrowers in the class of 2014 was $116,533. Repaying that debt -- the most of any b-school reporting data to U.S. News -- would require more than $1,300 per month on a 10-year plan at 6.41 percent.

With an average annual base salary of $112,096, some NYU graduates may be able to handle those monthly bills. For those making less, enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan can help make payments more palatable.

On average, 44 percent of 2014 graduates borrowed to earn their MBAs, according to the 77 ranked schools reporting that figure to U.S. News. Of the eight schools among the 10 most debt-ridden reporting that number, 55 percent of 2014 graduates borrowed to earn their degrees.

[Discover the eight student loan repayment myths experts want to see disappear.]

The following business schools had the highest debt among 2014 full-time graduates. Schools designated by U.S. News as Unranked were excluded from this list. U.S. News did not calculate numerical ranks for Unranked programs because they did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires. In the table below, U.S. News did not include schools that accepted fewer than 100 applicants.

Business school (name) (state)

Average MBA program indebtedness

Full-time 2014 graduates with debt

U.S. News b-school rank

New York University (Stern)

$116,533

N/A

11 (tie)

Duke University (Fuqua) (NC)

$115,201

65%

13 (tie)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)

$106,602

65%

5

Cornell University (Johnson) (NY)

$106,200

N/A

16

University of Virginia (Darden)

$102,122

66%

10

University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (Ross)

$101,107

46%

11 (tie)

George Washington University (DC)

$92,969

43%

58 (tie)

University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)

$87,533

57%

18

University of California--Los Angeles (Anderson)

$86,928

45%

15

Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) (PA)

$86,443

55%

20

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find debt data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed 464 schools for our 2014 survey of business programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The debt data above are correct as of July 28, 2015.



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