In the midst of the federal student loan crisis, the best options for college-seekers who want to graduate with the least amount of debt may actually be Ivy League institutions.

According to the Associated Press, the schools most responsible for sending their graduates into the workforce with the most amount of debt are the not-so-prestigious ones.

According to data from U.S. News and World Report, graduates from Princeton University, its top-ranked school, who borrowed to pay their way left with about $5,000 of debt. The reason is simple, said Amy Laitinen, a former White House education adviser now at the New America Foundation.

"Folks look at the sticker price and assume that's what everyone is paying. The truth is that the more elite schools have more resources," she said. "They have huge endowments that they often use to help lower-income and middle-income students - and even upper-income students."

With academic prestige comes high-profile graduates who can sometimes go on to become very wealthy. When they achieve their success and fortune, sometimes they give some of it back to their alma mater.

Take New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg for example, a highly successful businessman who also owns a news publication bearing his own name. He donated $350 million to Johns Hopkins University (ranked 12th), where he once earned a Bachelor's Degree of Science in electrical engineering.

Harvard, ranked second overall on the list, has a $30 billion endowment that helps 59 percent of its students who receive need-based aid. In fact, most Ivy League schools have these super-huge endowment funds to provide need-based aid for lower-income students.

At Yale University, ranked third, students who graduated with need-based aid from the school $19 billion endowment walked away with just more than $16,000 of debt, a discount of 73 percent the full price.

On the other end of the spectrum, more than 80 percent of students from Wheelock College and Anna Maria College who borrow typically graduate with student loan debt just under $50,000. Neither school even cracked the top 100.