The Most Affordable Top MBA Programs

When we talk about cost, we also are talking about debt. Where are MBA students racking up the most debt — and the least? And where is the percentage of those graduating with debt the lowest?

The lowest average amount of debt per graduate of a top-50 B-school can be found at the University of Wisconsin School of Business: $25,737. (Wisconsin is also where you will find the lowest percentage of grads with debt: 25%.) Texas-Dallas is not far behind, at $28,106, followed by the University of Washington Foster School of Business ($28,968), Arizona State University’s Carey School of Business ($30,217), and the University of Georgia Terry College of Business ($36,603). After Wisconsin, the lowest percentage of grads with debt was at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business (27%).

The highest average debt amount comes at some familiar names: Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business ($115,590), followed by MIT’s Sloan School of Management ($115,139), the University of Virginia Darden School of Business ($106,489), and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business ($104,679). These are the only four above $100K — however it’s important to note that many of the big players — Wharton, Chicago Booth, Columbia, NYU Stern, Northwestern Kellogg, Dartmouth Tuck — did not provide U.S. News with indebtedness data.

The highest percentage of grads with debt was at Indiana University’ Kelley School of Business, at 92% (at an average of $57,079), followed by the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School at 72% ($40,864).