How much debt does a student graduate with? What is a sample payment amount?
About 58% of our students who graduated in May 2008 had student loans with an average debt of $29,756 from all sources (excluding parent loans). The monthly payment would be approximately $290. Within this sum of debt from all sources, the average debt on federal student loans alone was $15,792, with a resulting estimated monthly payment of $182. Lehigh has an exceptionally low default rate on student loans, which indicates that student loan debt is not burdensome to Lehigh graduates. Some families choose to borrow some or all of their expected contribution, and many borrow through alternative loan programs. Borrowing of this nature is not considered need–based borrowing. While Lehigh includes student loans in some of our need–based financial aid packages, our need–based loans do not add up to the extraordinary sums of educational debt that we hear in the media. Owing to two programs we introduced in 2008, many students will graduate with no, or greatly reduced, need–based debt. Studen
