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 2023-24.

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	73,868	$10.02B	$135,668
2	Ohio State University System	4	62,944	$7.04B	$111,781
3	University of California Regents	8	269,426	$29.01B	$107,677
4	UMass Building Authority	4	65,411	$6.02B	$92,105
5	Texas A&M University System	7	115,096	$9.40B	$81,671
6	University of Missouri System	4	52,434	$3.43B	$65,449
7	University of Texas System	8	173,259	$10.81B	$62,374
8	Massachusetts State College Building Authority	7	29,341	$1.72B	$58,482
9	University of Minnesota System	5	58,861	$3.36B	$57,050
10	University of Alaska System	3	12,117	$523M	$43,158
11	Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE)	13	67,924	$2.68B	$39,440
12	University of Illinois System	2	62,288	$2.39B	$38,428
13	California State University Trustees	22	387,385	$14.85B	$38,326
14	Indiana University System	6	40,492	$1.52B	$37,494
15	University of Hawaii System	4	21,900	$757M	$34,577

Public universities (per campus)

Excludes campuses inside aggregating systems above

#	Institution	FTE	Per FTE	Frag.	USN	Yield
1	University of Virginia-Main CampusVA $3.32B total	27,775	$119,515	29	T50	42%
2	University of Nebraska-LincolnNE University of Nebraska Facilities $2.36B total	21,371	$110,296	51	—	31%
3	Colorado School of MinesCO $760M total	7,022	$108,161	82	T100	24%
4	University of Washington-Seattle CampusWA University of Washington Regents $5.52B total	51,115	$107,948	31	—	30%
5	CUNY City CollegeNY City University of New York System $1.26B total	12,052	$104,632	63	—	12%
6	University of Michigan-Ann ArborMI $4.75B total	49,709	$95,562	21	T50	47%
7	SUNY at Purchase CollegeNY $302M total	3,180	$95,036	61	T101-150	16%
8	University of Washington-Tacoma CampusWA University of Washington Regents $442M total	4,760	$92,927	—	—	36%
9	University of ConnecticutCT $2.34B total	25,338	$92,452	55	T100	18%
10	CUNY Medgar Evers CollegeNY City University of New York System $254M total	2,865	$88,597	83	T151-200	6%
11	SUNY Maritime CollegeNY SUNY (DASNY Construction Fund) $132M total	1,549	$85,439	52	—	26%
12	SUNY MorrisvilleNY $121M total	1,584	$76,163	80	—	16%
13	SUNY College at PotsdamNY $182M total	2,435	$74,894	69	—	17%
14	University of UtahUT $2.28B total	31,906	$71,525	67	—	29%
15	Antelope Valley Community College DistrictCA $523M total	7,329	$71,410	71	—	—
16	University of Mary WashingtonVA $236M total	3,334	$70,720	71	T101-150	19%
17	SUNY College of Environmental Science and ForestryNY $116M total	1,725	$67,071	44	—	21%
18	Kentucky State UniversityKY $98M total	1,459	$66,860	41	—	14%
19	SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at CobleskillNY SUNY (DASNY Construction Fund) $124M total	1,886	$65,797	69	—	24%
20	Stony Brook UniversityNY SUNY (DASNY Construction Fund) $1.64B total	25,719	$63,801	51	T100	17%
—	Top-20 average		$86,440
—	Top-100 average		$50,113

Private nonprofits

FASB / F2 plant debt

#	Institution	FTE	Per FTE	Frag.	USN	Yield
1	California Institute of TechnologyCA $1.13B total	2,417	$465,799	45	T10	50%
2	Franklin W Olin College of EngineeringMA $154M total	381	$404,076	35	Spec	45%
3	Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMA $4.43B total	11,703	$378,569	49	T10	85%
4	Claremont McKenna CollegeCA $523M total	1,400	$373,431	50	T10	54%
5	Princeton UniversityNJ $2.70B total	9,171	$294,683	21	T10	69%
6	University of ChicagoIL $4.89B total	17,636	$277,176	67	T20	85%
7	Stanford UniversityCA $4.88B total	19,094	$255,825	13	T10	84%
8	Duke UniversityNC $4.18B total	16,372	$255,267	33	T10	55%
9	Swarthmore CollegePA $456M total	1,818	$250,902	44	T10	42%
10	Amherst CollegeMA $491M total	2,057	$238,890	53	T10	43%
11	Yale UniversityCT $3.85B total	17,601	$218,584	38	T10	68%
12	Washington University in St LouisMO $3.27B total	17,019	$191,921	67	T50	48%
13	The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and ArtNY $193M total	1,088	$177,540	24	Spec	54%
14	San Francisco Conservatory of MusicCA $73M total	431	$168,455	33	Spec	28%
15	Wellesley CollegeMA $449M total	2,702	$166,224	35	T10	51%
16	University of RochesterNY $1.89B total	11,365	$166,069	57	T50	21%
17	Rice UniversityTX $1.48B total	8,941	$165,323	54	T20	44%
18	The Juilliard SchoolNY $193M total	1,172	$164,638	38	Spec	48%
19	Smith CollegeMA $515M total	3,166	$162,700	36	T20	37%
20	Williams CollegeMA $365M total	2,342	$155,811	55	T10	44%
—	Top-20 average		$246,594
—	Top-100 average		$121,751

Fragility score shown is the FY 2023-24 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	1,380	$55,949	30	—	29%
2	Florida State UniversityFL $1.90B total	42,174	$45,036	23	T100	31%
3	University of North FloridaFL $415M total	15,040	$27,592	80	—	23%
4	New College of FloridaFL $18M total	761	$23,549	78	T101-150	14%
5	University of FloridaFL $755M total	51,350	$14,696	37	T50	44%
6	University of South FloridaFL $529M total	44,250	$11,956	33	T100	24%
7	Florida Gulf Coast UniversityFL $140M total	14,287	$9,780	21	—	24%
8	Florida International UniversityFL $173M total	47,987	$3,600	25	—	40%
9	Florida Atlantic UniversityFL $50M total	25,870	$1,926	48	—	22%
10	University of Central FloridaFL $99M total	59,317	$1,669	33	—	33%
11	Florida Agricultural and Mechanical UniversityFL $2M total	8,906	$275	73	—	37%
12	The University of West FloridaFL $0 total	10,708	$0	74	—	27%
—	Cohort average		$16,336
—	National publics top-100 average		$50,113