Institutional debt per student

Total long-term institutional debt (not student loans) — IPEDS-reported plant debt plus LLM-enriched off-balance-sheet DSO debt (academic-only; medical center bonds excluded) — divided by full-time-equivalent enrollment for FY 2022-23.

Three views: aggregating systems (UC, CSU, etc. — debt held centrally, ranked as one entity per system), per-public school (campuses whose debt is reported on their own books — most state flagships, FL SUS, etc.), and per-private school. A family appears in the system view rather than the per-school view when its central bond pool exceeds the sum of sibling campuses’ own reported debt.

Aggregating public-university systems

One row per system, debt and FTE summed across all sibling campuses.

#	System	Campuses	Total FTE	Total debt	Per FTE
1	University of Wisconsin System	5	72,609	$10.03B	$138,161
2	University of California Regents	8	270,471	$29.01B	$107,261
3	Ohio State University System	4	64,464	$6.85B	$106,245
4	UMass Building Authority	4	65,614	$5.95B	$90,715
5	Texas A&M University System	7	115,320	$9.40B	$81,512
6	University of Missouri System	4	52,997	$3.49B	$65,815
7	University of Texas System	8	173,269	$10.80B	$62,344
8	University of Minnesota System	5	59,651	$3.44B	$57,747
9	Massachusetts State College Building Authority	7	30,806	$1.76B	$57,195
10	Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE)	13	71,166	$2.80B	$39,361
11	University of Illinois System	2	62,449	$2.41B	$38,556
12	California State University Trustees	22	401,078	$14.95B	$37,272
13	Indiana University System	6	42,332	$1.55B	$36,531
14	University of Hawaii System	4	22,247	$784M	$35,248
15	University of Maine System	5	21,183	$616M	$29,094

Public universities (per campus)

Excludes campuses inside aggregating systems above

#	Institution	FTE	Per FTE	Frag.	USN	Yield
1	SUNY Polytechnic InstituteNY $332M total	2,365	$140,550	78	—	16%
2	University of Virginia-Main CampusVA $3.33B total	25,007	$133,213	19	T50	42%
3	University of Washington-Seattle CampusWA University of Washington Regents $5.38B total	46,753	$115,148	31	—	30%
4	CUNY City CollegeNY City University of New York System $1.40B total	12,344	$113,811	100	—	12%
5	University of Puerto Rico-UtuadoPR University of Puerto Rico System $50M total	450	$111,925	44	—	54%
6	University of Nebraska-LincolnNE University of Nebraska Facilities $2.38B total	21,763	$109,590	51	—	31%
7	University of Michigan-Ann ArborMI $5.20B total	51,169	$101,571	31	T50	47%
8	University of Washington-Tacoma CampusWA University of Washington Regents $458M total	4,835	$94,628	—	—	36%
9	CUNY Medgar Evers CollegeNY City University of New York System $292M total	3,244	$89,949	95	—	6%
10	SUNY at Purchase CollegeNY $305M total	3,440	$88,691	59	—	16%
11	University of ConnecticutCT $2.17B total	25,341	$85,613	55	—	18%
12	Skyline CollegeCA $347M total	4,129	$83,935	91	—	—
13	University of Alaska FairbanksAK University of Alaska System $332M total	4,293	$77,436	39	—	—
14	SUNY Maritime CollegeNY SUNY (DASNY Construction Fund) $133M total	1,754	$75,809	57	—	26%
15	SUNY College at PotsdamNY $196M total	2,596	$75,347	56	—	17%
16	SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at CobleskillNY SUNY (DASNY Construction Fund) $133M total	1,769	$75,210	56	—	24%
17	SUNY MorrisvilleNY $124M total	1,689	$73,289	85	—	16%
18	University of Mary WashingtonVA $249M total	3,449	$72,196	71	—	19%
19	University of UtahUT $2.11B total	29,474	$71,423	67	—	29%
20	The University of Tennessee Health Science CenterTN $104M total	1,459	$71,227	42	—	—
—	Top-20 average		$93,028
—	Top-100 average		$52,014

Private nonprofits

FASB / F2 plant debt

#	Institution	FTE	Per FTE	Frag.	USN	Yield
1	California Institute of TechnologyCA $1.09B total	2,403	$454,636	51	T10	50%
2	Franklin W Olin College of EngineeringMA $158M total	365	$431,852	41	Spec	45%
3	Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMA $4.48B total	11,836	$378,883	58	T10	85%
4	Claremont McKenna CollegeCA $522M total	1,435	$363,803	75	T10	54%
5	Princeton UniversityNJ $2.54B total	8,561	$296,178	1	T10	69%
6	Duke UniversityNC $4.24B total	15,002	$282,770	54	T10	55%
7	Stanford UniversityCA $4.70B total	17,175	$273,784	25	T10	84%
8	University of ChicagoIL $4.40B total	17,636	$249,606	53	T20	85%
9	Yale UniversityCT $4.14B total	17,521	$236,153	25	T10	68%
10	Swarthmore CollegePA $360M total	1,696	$212,321	22	T10	42%
11	The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and ArtNY $200M total	953	$210,022	42	Spec	54%
12	Washington University in St LouisMO $3.26B total	17,566	$185,556	57	T50	48%
13	University of PennsylvaniaPA $4.39B total	24,225	$181,363	6	T10	68%
14	San Francisco Conservatory of MusicCA $82M total	461	$177,232	37	Spec	28%
15	The Juilliard SchoolNY $193M total	1,099	$175,798	33	Spec	48%
16	Wellesley CollegeMA $454M total	2,668	$169,981	35	T10	51%
17	Amherst CollegeMA $355M total	2,141	$165,952	38	T10	43%
18	Williams CollegeMA $373M total	2,255	$165,302	52	T10	44%
19	Smith CollegeMA $515M total	3,239	$159,033	19	T20	37%
20	Emory UniversityGA $2.47B total	15,956	$154,579	22	T50	38%
—	Top-20 average		$246,240
—	Top-100 average		$119,378

Fragility score shown is the FY 2022-23 composite (0 = healthiest, 100 = most distressed). Note that publics carrying much less debt than privates often score more fragile — partly because GASB accounting records state appropriations below the operating line (so operating margins look negative even for politically stable systems), and partly because pension/OPEB liabilities are on-balance-sheet under GASB but absent from FASB privates’ books.

Cohort comparisons

Curated peer groups — same columns as the per-school tables above. Useful for comparing schools within a state system, athletic conference, or other organizational cluster. Each row stands on its own; no debt is reallocated across siblings.

Florida State University System (SUS)

The 12-institution state university system overseen by the Florida Board of Governors. Distinct from the Florida College System (FCS), which is the parallel network of community / state colleges.

#	Institution	FTE	Per FTE	Frag.	USN	Yield
1	Florida Polytechnic UniversityFL $77M total	1,302	$59,336	55	—	29%
2	Florida State UniversityFL $1.93B total	43,120	$44,689	30	—	31%
3	New College of FloridaFL $19M total	703	$27,074	78	—	14%
4	University of North FloridaFL $317M total	14,890	$21,311	53	—	23%
5	University of FloridaFL $757M total	52,007	$14,554	50	T50	44%
6	University of South FloridaFL $529M total	43,553	$12,142	38	—	24%
7	Florida Gulf Coast UniversityFL $149M total	14,481	$10,273	30	—	24%
8	Florida International UniversityFL $181M total	49,039	$3,700	25	—	40%
9	Florida Atlantic UniversityFL $56M total	25,631	$2,192	56	—	22%
10	University of Central FloridaFL $116M total	61,031	$1,893	41	—	33%
11	The University of West FloridaFL $0 total	10,599	$0	92	—	27%
12	Florida Agricultural and Mechanical UniversityFL $0 total	8,771	$0	65	—	37%
—	Cohort average		$16,430
—	National publics top-100 average		$52,014