Education's cost crisis
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The rising cost of a college education and the failure of federal grants to keep pace has led to average student loan debt hitting an all-time high.
The class of 2010 not only faced one of the toughest job markets in recent memory, but an estimated two-thirds of them are saddled with an average student loan burden of $25,250. Average student debt for the class of 2009 was $24,000.
"More people in this country have student loans and they owe more than ever before," said Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success in Oakland, Calif.
A report by the Project on Student Debt at the Institute for College Access & Success found that at the college undergraduate level, average debt for the class of 2010 ranged from $950 to $55,250 at the individual schools that reported student loan data. The percentage of students who graduated from those individual colleges with educational loans ranged from 2 percent to 100 percent of the student body.
States with the highest average debt for 2010 graduates are located in the Northeast and Midwest, while states with the lowest college debt are concentrated out West.
Graduates of Pennsylvania colleges and universities carry an average debt of $28,599, and researchers found that about 70 percent of graduates in this state have student loans.
Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of the student financial aid websites Finaid.org and Fastweb.com, said the increase in student debt is linked to rising tuition and a decline in federal student grants.
"Also, federal and state governments have been cutting their support of post-secondary education," said Mr. Kantrowitz.
And he doesn't foresee any improvement soon. "I don't see the debt coming down in the next decade," he said. "I believe we are headed for a severe decline in college affordability."
Student debt has become a fact of life for more Americans, which is why some members of the Occupy Wall Street movement have placed the topic at the top of their agenda.
Many of the activists camped out in Mellon Park have signed a cardboard display at the site listing the total amount of their student debt. One of their main proposals of the group is the wholesale forgiveness of all student debt.
First Published November 15, 2011 12:00 am
