Student Loans 101

Every student’s financial aid package is different, but packages may include a combination of scholarship awards, savings, and student loans. When determining your scholarship award, we assume you will take out a loan. Last year, students graduated with an average student loan debt of approximately $93,000. The average student loan debt for scholarship recipients was $87,000.

To better understand how Harvard Business School (HBS) graduates manage and repay their student debt, we interviewed several alumni about their loan repayment journeys. Read the Student Loans blog series.

2025 Changes to Federal Student Loans

Enacted in July 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) made significant changes in federal student loan programs as a part of the shifts in fiscal policy. Harvard is continuing to track all of these changes and will update this site to provide the most current information from the Department of Education.

If this is your first time taking out a student loan, or you would like to better understand your loan options, please take time to review the following.