10 College Majors With the Worst Student Loan Debt for Graduates

The average student loan debt among the class of 2022 is $37,172 per borrower. However, the figure can vary significantly depending on the school the borrower attended, the abundance of scholarships, and much more -- including what the person majored in.

With that in mind, here's a rundown of the college majors that result in the highest median student debt upon graduation and a couple of key takeaways.

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The 10 college majors with the worst student loan debt

I won't keep you in suspense. According to a report by the Education Data Initiative using 2022 information, the top 10 bachelor's degrees ranked by median debt of graduates are as follows:

Data source: Education Data Initiative.

Don't forget about graduate school

There is a total of about $1.8 trillion in student loan debt, and this fact has been widely publicized. But one fact you might not be aware of is that the majority of this is from graduate school loans. 55% of students from public schools and 57% from private institutions take student loans, but two-thirds of graduate students use federal loans, roughly double the proportion of undergraduates who do. The average bachelor's degree holder has about $21,500 in student loan debt while the average graduate degree recipient (including professional degrees) owes $102,400 on their student loans.

With that in mind, let's look at some of the graduate majors that result in the highest indebtedness. First, here are the five master's degree programs with the highest median debt:

Data source: Education Data Initiative.

For doctoral degrees, all of the top five have six-figure median student loan debt upon graduation:

Data source: Education Data Initiative.

Finally, if you're curious, the average medical school graduate owes $250,990 in total student loan debt. And this (and the other graduate debt figures) includes any undergraduate debt students accumulated. 

These are just median figures

There are a few important things to note. First, this is the median student loan debt, which is the midpoint of the data. In other words, half graduate with more debt and half graduate with less. It's a slightly different concept than the mathematical average.

Second, there are several factors that determine how much debt graduates of a certain major build up. The availability of scholarships is a big one. Notice the lack of science and engineering majors, especially toward the top of the list. 17% of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students receive scholarships to help cover the cost of their education, as opposed to 12% of non-STEM majors. (Note: The top major on the list, behavioral sciences, is considered a psychology/sociology-adjacent major, not a STEM field.)

The bottom line is that this information should be taken with a big grain of salt. For instance, just because you major in behavioral sciences doesn't mean that you're destined to graduate with a lot of debt. But there are clearly some majors that are generally more conducive to accumulating debt than others.