One way to decide if a college is worth the cost is to see if graduates are having a hard time paying off their loans. At the University of Chicago, there's good news here. Less than 1% of borrowers defaulted on their loans within three years of graduating.

The average alum left school with $12,500 in federal student loans, and a typical monthly payment of $128, according to government data. Though, they could also have additional private loans.