50 Colleges Where Parents Take Out the Biggest Loans to Pay Tuition

50 Colleges Where Parents Take Out the Biggest Loans to Pay Tuition

Parents are borrowing more than ever to send their children to college. Last year, one out of every four dollars in federal loans given out for undergraduate education went to people paying for a kid or grandkid's studies through the federal Parent PLUS loan program, with an average loan of $16,305—two to three times the maximum amount that traditional students are allowed to borrow in a single school year.

Over four or more years of college, the size of these parent loans often reach staggering amounts. An exclusive Newsweek analysis of federal data on PLUS loans has identified more than 150 schools where the median amount that parents borrow while their child is in school exceeds the maximum $27,000 that traditional undergraduates are allowed to borrow. The typical loan at the 50 schools that Newsweek has identified where parents borrow the most starts at nearly double that amount: $50,190. And at the school where parents borrow the absolute most, half take out loans of $84,000 or more.