In its Sept. 18th edition, U.S. News & World Report ranks Ball State eighth among national universities in the category of "least amount of student debt" in 1999.

U.S. News compiled a list of the schools whose 1999 graduates carried the heaviest and lightest debt loads. The data include loans taken out by students from the colleges themselves, from financial institutions, and from federal, state and local governments. Parents' loans are not included.

According to the publication, about 42 percent of Ball State graduates left college with an average debt of $11,400. Indiana State University topped the list at $4,129 of debt. No other Indiana or Mid-American Conference university made the least-debt list.

During the 1999-2000 academic year, the number of full-time Ball State students receiving any need-based financial aid was 7,083 or about 70 percent of financial aid applicants. The average need-based gift award was $3,064 and the average need-based financial aid package, which includes loans, was $5,656. Ball State awards about $94 million annually in financial aid.

Robert Zellers, director of Scholarships and Financial Aid, said Ball State is a bargain for Hoosiers.

"Our relatively low tuition is our best form of student assistance," he said. "Everyone in the state has about the same financial aid programs, so our low tuition is a great break for our students."

The New School University in New York had the highest student debt load with 70 percent of graduates leaving school with an average of $27,125. Other recognizable names in the top 10 of the most-debt category included Pepperdine University with 64 percent of students in debt and the average debt at $24,177; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 56 percent and $22,529; University of Pennsylvania, 50 percent and $21,600; and Cleveland State University, 31 percent and $21,106. 

By Marc Ransford, Communications Manager

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Zellers at (765) 285-5600.)