Northeastern Illinois University students graduate with the 12th-lowest student loan debt nationally among public four-year colleges and universities and the lowest debt among all Illinois public institutions, according to a report released Aug. 8, 2018. Among all four-year colleges and universities, Northeastern ranks 29th.
The report was released by LendEDU, an online student loan and student loan refinance company. LendEDU’s third annual Student Loan Debt By School By State Report was created using licensed Peterson’s financial aid data that is provided by the institutions. Northeastern also was highly ranked in the first two reports, issued in 2016 and 2017.
Based on the Class of 2017, 53 percent of Northeastern graduates incurred student debt, according to the LendEDU report, and the average debt per borrower was $15,819. Those numbers are significantly less than the state averages: 61 percent of students graduate with debt at an average of $28,424 per borrower.
In 2017, Northeastern earned the No. 1 spot for the fourth consecutive year in U.S. News & World Report’s annual “Best Colleges” publication for students who graduate with the least amount of debt among Midwest regional universities. U.S. News & World Report’s 2018 rankings will be released later this year.
