How To Graduate From College With No Student Loan Debt

Overall, 38% of undergraduate students graduate college without student loan debt.This includes a third of students in Certificate programs, more than half (52%) of students in Associate’s degree programs and less than a third (31%) of students in Bachelor’s degree programs. There are several ways you can increase your chances of graduating without any student loans, based on an analysis of data from the 2015-16 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. We dive into the details below.

International graduate enrollment at U.S. colleges fell again this year, and the financial damage is showing up fast in layoffs, budget deficits, and shuttered degree programs.For years, foreign graduate students were a quiet engine of university finances: paying full tuition, staffing research labs, and filling master's programs that schools built out to grow revenue. Now that engine is stalling. Tighter visa policies, thousands of revoked visas, and growing uncertainty about studying in the U.S. have cut into the pipeline, and the institutions that bet most heavily on international enrollment are the ones now scrambling to close the gap.

Sixty-two members of Congress are demanding the Department of Education act before millions more borrowers fall into default and they want answers by June 22.A June 7 letter (PDF File) led by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), along with Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and André Carson (D-Ind.), warns Education Secretary Linda McMahon that the U.S. is facing "the largest student loan default and delinquency crisis on record." This comes as the entire student loan system is changing on July 1 - from new repayment plans, loan caps, and borrowers in the SAVE plan being forced to leave forbearance.

Over the past several weeks we've heard multiple reports from graduate students about financial aid delays and miscommunication as they start summer classes. For medical, dental, and veterinary schools that start as early as May, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) changes are causing delays and chaos.One student reported that they received an inaccurate notice claiming they hit the updated graduate borrowing limits, while another was experiencing delayed loan disbursements. The result is fear, uncertainty, and in the case of delayed disbursements, true financial risk as many graduate students rely on their student loans to pay rent, buy food, and more.Here's what's happening.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies released its fiscal year 2027 spending bill (PDF File), and it pays for a Pell Grant increase by permanently ending subsidized federal student loans.The bill cuts the U.S. Department of Education's budget by 10%, or roughly $8 billion, with deep reductions to K-12 programs, Federal Work Study, and education research. It is the first step in a long appropriations process, but the headline tradeoff is clear: students gain a small Pell bump and lose one of the most affordable loans available to them.

The federal student loan system is about to see its biggest changes in decades — and most borrowers have no idea what's coming.In this episode, Robert Farrington sits down with U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary Nicholas Kent, the top federal official overseeing the $1.7 trillion student aid portfolio, to break down exactly what's changing on July 1 and what you need to do about it.They cover the end of the SAVE plan and the 90-day clock for borrowers to switch, the two new repayment options (the Repayment Assistance Plan and the new tiered standard plan), how RAP's interest subsidy can finally make your balance go down, first-ever borrowing limits for graduate and Parent PLUS loans, and why Kent says these caps are already pushing some schools to cut costs. Kent also shares his own story as a first-generation, low-income Pell Grant student and why broad student loan forgiveness "is not going to happen" under this administration.Whether you're in repayment, borrowing for grad school, or just trying to make sense of the headlines, this conversation gives you a clear, practical roadmap before the July 1 deadline.Follow The College Investor Audio Show so you never miss an episode — and share it with anyone navigating student loans right now.

Hampshire College and Anna Maria College have both announced plans to wind down, joining a a list of other colleges that have announced closures this year. Families committing tuition dollars now have a real interest in spotting financial trouble before it surfaces in a closure announcement.More than 30 New England colleges have closed or merged over the past decade, per the Boston Fed. Huron Consulting Group projects over a quarter of private, four-year schools could close or merge in the next ten years. Forbes' new College Financial Grades report shows clear balance sheet stress at hundreds of institutions.With these sobering stats in mind, how can you be sure your college will last? Here's what to watch out for.

The price a college advertises and the price a family actually pays out of pocket are two very different numbers, and the distance between them is rarely an accident. Behind the published sticker price sits a system of selective discounts, mandatory fees, and rules that can turn four years of tuition into five or six. Some of these practices have drawn federal scrutiny and lawsuits.Together they help explain why two students sitting in the same lecture hall can pay wildly different amounts for the same education.

Americans' financial literacy has slipped to its lowest level in a decade, according to the 2026 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index released this month.U.S. adults correctly answered just 47% of the 28 P-Fin Index questions in 2026 — a significant drop from the prior year and the weakest result since the survey launched in 2017. The figure has never exceeded 52% over the decade.The share of adults with very low financial literacy (seven or fewer questions correct) rose from 20% in 2017 to 25% in 2026. The top of the distribution barely moved: just 15% answered 22 or more correctly, down one point from 2017.

The University of Missouri System Board of Curators voted unanimously Thursday to raise undergraduate tuition 4% across all four campuses for the 2026-27 academic year. Graduate tuition will rise 3%.The increase hits resident undergraduates at Mizzou (Columbia), UMSL, UMKC, and Missouri S&T at a moment when families are already absorbing FAFSA changes, new federal borrowing caps on Grad Loans and Parent PLUS loans, and the rollout of the RAP plan. A 4% bump also runs slightly above of the national pace for public four-year schools.