Personal Finance

Best and worst colleges for student borrowers

Best and worst colleges for student borrowers

Pedestrians in front of the William Barton Rogers Building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Americans owe a record $1.2 trillion in student loan debt. To help borrowers better understand how long it may take to pay those balances off, the White House recently published the College Scorecard database. It includes median income data for graduates of schools who received financial aid as reported by the Internal Revenue Service along with student loan balances from the Department of Education.

MagnifyMoney.com, a price comparison website, did a cash-flow analysis of 884 schools in the College Scorecard database to determine which are the best and worst colleges for student loan borrowers.

Read MoreYou wasted all that money on a college degree?

"The best schools on the list help students generate the highest income after student loan expenses, and the worst schools have students with the lowest income after student loan expenses," said Nick Clements, MagnifyMoney's co-founder.

Here are the bottom five and top five colleges for student borrowers on MagnifyMoney's list ranked by average income after student loan payments.

—By CNBC's Tom Anderson
Posted 21 Sept. 2015

Benedict College, worst incomes for student loan borrowers

Only 17 percent of students at Benedict College, a private liberal arts college in Columbia, South Carolina, are paying down the principal balance of their student loans three years after graduation, according to Department of Education's College Scorecard. (The school did not respond to requests for comment.)

Average income after student loan payments: $15,603
Average monthly loan payments: $483
Average loan balance: $43,515
Average debt to income: 27%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 92%

Central State University, 2nd worst incomes

Source: Central State University

The Department of Education's College Scorecard reports just 31 percent of students who attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, one of the country's oldest black-administered higher education institutions, earn more on average than those with a high school diploma.

"The data that speaks about earnings is reflective of 'former students.' That could include not only graduates but in addition those who attended but never graduated from Central State or any other institution of higher education," said Edwina Blackwell Clark, Central State University's director of public relations.

Average income after student loan payments: $19,695
Average monthly loan payments: $434
Average loan balance: $39,068
Average debt to income: 21%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 83%

Kentucky State University, 3rd worst incomes

Kentucky State University in Frankfort has a 16 percent graduation rate for four-year degrees, which is below the national average of 44 percent, according to Department of Education's College Scorecard.

"While this report is troubling, it is one of the issues that we have identified and are attacking aggressively," said Diane Hawkins, Kentucky State University's director of communications. "The university is actively changing the standards and culture to improve students' performance and outcomes."

Average income after student loan payments: $21,945
Average monthly loan payments: $388
Average loan balance: $34,942
Average debt to income: 18%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 68%

Grambling State University, 4th worst incomes

Grambling State University, a historically black college in Louisiana, has an endowment of $4.5 million, which is well below the average college endowment of $355 million. A small endowment means the school has fewer resources to offer students financial aid. (Grambling State did not respond to requests for comment.)

Average income after student loan payments: $23,214
Average monthly loan payments: $424
Average loan balance: $38,173
Average debt to income: 18%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 84%

Baker College Center for Graduate Studies, 5th worst incomes

Baker Center for Graduate Studies
Source: Baker Center for Graduate Studies

The average annual cost of Baker College Center for Graduate Studies in Flint, Michigan, is $21,770, which is nearly 30 percent more than the national average annual cost for college. (The school did not respond to requests for comment.)

Average income after student loan payments: $23,261
Average monthly loan payments: $270
Average loan balance: $24,315
Average debt to income: 12%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 67%

Georgetown University, 5th best school for incomes

Georgetown University campus
Getty Images

Georgetown is in the top five schools based on graduates' income after student loan payments. "When you dig deeper into this data, you see that highly gifted students at elite schools are getting the best deals," Clements said.

Average income after student loan payments: $80,969
Average monthly loan payments: $194
Average loan balance: $17,500
Average debt to income: 3%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 28%

Babson College, 4th best incomes

The Babson World Globe at Babson College
David L. Ryan | The Boston Globe | Getty Images

This Wellesley, Massachuestts, private school's focus on entrepreneurship makes it a good value for student loan borrowers, Clements said.

Average income after student loan payments: $81,903
Average monthly loan payments: $300
Average loan balance: $27,000
Average debt to income: 4%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 37%

Harvard University, 3rd best incomes

The Widener Library at the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Harvard's financial aid website pledges 100 percent of its students can graduate debt-free. Of course, it is easier to make that pledge when an institution has a $36.4 billion endowment.

Average income after student loan payments: $86,401
Average monthly loan payments: $67
Average loan balance: $6,000
Average debt to income: 1%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 3%

MIT, 2nd best incomes

Boston Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus.
Rabbit75_ist | Getty Images

No surprise that graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which specializes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics—all high-paying majors—would make it near the top for student loan borrowers. "You can't ignore lifetime earning potential when deciding which college to attend," Clements said.

Average income after student loan payments: $89,782
Average monthly loan payments: $151
Average loan balance: $13,645
Average debt to income: 2%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 20%

MCPHS University, best school for incomes

"You don't have to be a doctor to have a good income in health care," Clements said. MCPHS students' high-paying jobs after graduation helped the health-focused college in the Boston area top the list of best schools for student loan borrowers.

Read MoreThe top 10 highest-paying jobs in America

Average income after student loan payments: $113,069
Average monthly loan payments: $278
Average loan balance: $25,000
Average debt to income: 3%
Percentage of graduates who borrow: 78%