New Study Shows Student Loan Debt Continues to Rise
A study that has been recently released by the Institute for College Access & Success’s Project on Student Debt shows that student loan debt among college graduates in 2009 was 6% higher than the debt for students who graduated in 2008, while in the same time period, unemployment rose by 3%.
The data the report reflected came voluntarily, from approximately 1,000 not-for-profit schools. No data from for-profit schools was included, because few for-profit schools provided data.
Other points of note from the report:
- High student loan debt states are concentrated in the Northeast, while low-debt states are concentrated in the West.
- Unemployment rate for new college grads rose from 5.8% in 2008 to 8.7% in 2009, the highest annual rate on the record.
According to the report, higher college tuition does not necessarily transition to higher student loan debt:
“Four colleges (California Institute of Technology, Claremont McKenna College, Princeton University, and Williams College) with no-loan or reduced-loan financial aid policies for low- and middle-income students are notable for charging over $30,000 for tuition and fees in 2008-09 but graduating bachelor’s degree recipients with, on average, less than $10,000 in student loans,” the report mentions.
Read the report in its entirety: Student Debt and the Class of 2009
