Average Student Debt Is Close to $30K
Student debt in America has been a runaway train to hell for some time now. No wonder young people are so terrified of it. It's getting worse.
Much worse! You'd think after all of the complaining about it, student debt might have started to, if not decline, at least level off. Not at all! Here, friends, is the latest annual estimate of student debt loads in America, and let's go right to the big number:
Seven in 10 college seniors who graduated in 2012 had student loan debt, with an average of $29,400 for those with loans. The national share of seniors graduating with loans rose in recent years, from 68 percent in 2008 to 71 percent in 2012, while their debt at graduation increased by an average of six percent per year.
That average debt load is almost 10% higher than last year.
Debt by state ranges from more than $33K at the high end (Delaware) to less than $18K at the low end (New Mexico). There's quite a bit more detail in the full report, for masochists.
