At Duquesne University, about 24% of students who graduated with bachelor’s degrees in 2022 took out private loans, averaging $66,509. (Photo by Alexis Wary/PublicSource)
Students graduating from some Pittsburgh universities are leaving their studies with more than $50,000 in debt to private lenders. Are students getting the most out of less-expensive options?
by Emma Folts, PublicSource
Many college students take out loans from the federal government to help pay for college, but there’s a cap on the amount they can borrow. When they still can’t afford the cost, they face a choice: Don’t go to college, or take out riskier private loans to cover the rest.
At some Pittsburgh universities, more students are taking on larger amounts of private debt than others nationwide. That raises questions about the affordability of these institutions and the financial guidance students receive, and it means more students are borrowing with fewer protections. Federal loans often have fixed or lower interest rates and provide borrowers with more options for repayment, forgiveness and discharge.
Private loan debt can be “the most debilitating for people who already have the least access to higher education and to generational wealth,” said Ben Kaufman, fellow and former director of research and investigations at the national nonprofit Student Borrower Protection Center. While Black borrowers are less than half as likely to take out private loans than their White peers, they’re four times more likely to struggle repaying it.
The local universities should each “think about what it’s doing to people,” he said. “It’s just a shame that the universities have chosen to approach their own students so extractively.”
Nationally, about 10% of public university students who graduated with bachelor’s degrees in the 2020-21 academic year took out private loans, with an average debt of roughly $32,000. At private universities, about 13% of graduates that year did the same, taking on an average debt of $42,800.
Here’s how several Pittsburgh universities compare, according to publicly available data. The numbers exclude transfer students.
- At Duquesne University, about 24% of 2022 bachelor’s degree recipients (254 students) took out private loans, averaging $66,509.
- At Carnegie Mellon University, about 7% of 2022 bachelor’s degree recipients (108 students) took out private loans, averaging $59,354.
- On the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus, about 20% of 2022 bachelor’s degree recipients (723 students) took out private loans, averaging $50,204.
- At Chatham University, about 35% of 2022 bachelor’s degree recipients (63 students) took out private loans, averaging $44,851.
- At Point Park University, about 25% of 2021 bachelor’s degree recipients (100 students) took out private loans, averaging $10,314. Point Park did not make data on 2022 graduates publicly available.
Carlow, Robert Morris and La Roche universities do not make data on private loans publicly available and did not provide data to PublicSource.
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