University of Texas System Graduates Owe Less Than $21,000 Of Debt, Says School Chancellor

University of Texas System is suggesting that there is hardly any undergraduate of the university who is burdened with school debt. According to university chancellor Bill McRaven, students across the UT have less than $21,000 worth of school debt, which is among the lowest figures recorded in the country.

A University of Texas System spokesperson said that the median cumulative debt for some University graduates was amounting to $20,755, which means half the number of graduates had less, while half had more. Spokesperson Jenny LaCoste-Caputo said that the figure presented by McRaven showed borrowing associated with room and board, tuition and fees, supplies, books, transportation allowance and other expenses. The numbers were based on the information gathered from the UT campuses over the years through 2012 to 2013, Politifact reported.

In addition to this, the numbers also indicate that a number of graduates are accumulating less debt, while others have more. Some students owe the institution $5,415 or less at the high-end while others owe $42,051 or more. LaCoste-Caputo believes that McRaven mentioned only the 12-year median in order to emphasize that it pays to be a UT graduate. Based on the UT System findings, the median annual income of graduates 10 following graduation is at $60,000.

Regardless of the McRaven's reason, the 12-year median presents a very broad time window. According to LaCoste-Caputo, the median debt for graduates of UT schools who applied for a loan specifically for the period 2012 to 2013 was $23,350, or 13 percent higher compared to the 12-year median, Dailymail UK reported.

However, the University of Texas' median debt numbers does not show every loan. According to LaCoste-Caputo, the median computations only consider the graduates who had been first-time students at the UT institution. Furthermore, it does not provide the figures of loans accumulated by students who transferred from other institutions like a community college.

Over the years, McRaven based the data on 43,900 bachelor's degree recipients, hence, failing to provide enough information for the 82,380 recipients who also borrowed money. The median figure that McRaven mentioned considers data for 35 percent of the student-borrowers to receive a UT degree in the period.