A group that tracks college loan debt yesterday served up some sobering news for students on two fronts.

The average debt nationally among graduating seniors with loans reached $23,200 last year, a sum that has grown by about 6 percent annually since 2004, according to The Project on Student Debt based in Berkeley, Calif.

And graduates saddled with those loans likely are having a harder time finding a job to pay them off, given a third-quarter 2009 unemployment rate of 10.6 percent for graduates 20 to 24 years old That's the highest national rate for that group in the 10 years data has been available.

Pennsylvanians at least can take comfort knowing their state does not carry the biggest average campus debt. That distinction fell on the District of Columbia, according to the Project's study of debt released yesterday.

Nevertheless, Pennsylvania's $25,219 average is seventh highest in the nation, and the Commonwealth is one of five states, including West Virginia, where more than 70 percent of graduating seniors carried debt.

The Project is an initiative of the Institute for College Access & Success, an independent nonprofit that focuses on college affordability. The study relied on federal data and survey answers from 922 public and private campuses.

Though more attention is being focused on controlling debt, what hasn't changed is the gap between campus prices and what families can afford, said Lauren Asher, institute president. If anything, the sour economy has further strained their budgets.

"Both state and federal policy-makers need to think about the implications of a generation of college graduates paying off student loans instead of buying houses, starting businesses or saving for retirement," she said.

The report said average student debt nationally is up from $18,650 in 2004, with huge differences between campuses.

Average debt in 2008 was as low as $4,781 at Alice Lloyd College in Kentucky, while others topped $50,000 and one school, St. Louis College of Pharmacy, reported an average student debt of $105,576, according to the study.

As was true in the past, "high-debt" states tended to be in the Northeast and "low-debt" states tended to be out West, the report said. It said Northeastern states have a higher-than-average share of students attending private campuses, and that average tuition rates in the Northeast are higher.

But a higher-priced school does not automatically mean more debt, the report noted. There were examples of high-priced schools with low debt and low priced schools with high debt. It offered a range of reasons for that, including student demographics, the size of a school's endowment, state policies, campus financial aid practices and local cost of living.

This state's largest school, Penn State University, reported a main campus debt average of $26,800 for 2008 graduates. The University of Pittsburgh did not provide a main campus rate, but on its branches, the averages reported ranged from $26,463 at Bradford to $21,468 at Greensburg.

Carnegie Mellon University reported average debt in 2008 of $29,346, Duquesne University reported overall debt of $29,616 and Point Park University reported $31,149. Chatham and Carlow universities did not provide an overall figure.

On many campuses, student worry over loans is so pronounced it is impacting choices of major.

At Chatham, student Jenn Hollern, 21, of Emporia, Kan., is getting considerable aid but still expects to graduate with $40,000 in debt as she embarks on a career in higher education administration.

"It's frustrating," she said. "My starting salary, even in higher education, will not be as high as my debt."

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