Though "University" is in the name, Washington and Lee is a liberal-arts college, and one of the last in America to go coed: the first women graduated in 1985. Its sticker price is $52,330, but financial aid handles 59 percent of it, plus it gives the most generous merit-based financial aid awards of any school on the Top 10 list. Despite this, their students graduate with the most average debt, at $23,615.
John Nordell / The Christian Science Monitor / File