Minnesota has one of the highest student loan debt rates nationwide, according to research conducted by an independent, nonprofit organization.
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Seven of 10 college graduates in 2014 had student debt and the average owed was $28,950, according to a new study.
The report says students left Winona State with an average debt of $35,131, while those who graduated the Duluth college were $42,792 in debt.
“Too many students are left with debts they can’t repay, particularly if they don’t graduate, and too many end up in default”. TICAS said that this data represents 81 percent of graduates in these types of schools.
Which colleges leave students in most debt? Delaware ranks highest, with an average debt of $33,808.
Debt levels differ greatly between states and institutions – ranging from $4,750 to $60,750 per college.
The report comes on the heels of a big push by the Obama administration to make it easier for students and their families to access information about colleges, including costs and estimated earnings after graduation.
“For students and families in Minnesota and around the country, college is getting more and more unaffordable, and students are taking on more and more debt”, he said in a news release.
As the race for the 2016 presidential election heats up, Asher says she’s been pleased to hear student debt and college costs frequently cited by candidates from both parties as issues that need to be tackled.
“Today, far more data on borrowing and debt are publicly available today than a decade ago”.
Other studies have found that millennials with high student loan debts have been reluctant to start families, buy homes, save for retirement and start businesses. Delaware was the most expensive, with borrowers owing $33,808, followed by New Hampshire at $33,410 and Pennsylvania at $33,264.
However, Asher noted that two factors varied dramatically from state to state and from school to school: whether students needed to borrow to complete college and what their average debt levels were.
The report said the effects of decreased government spending would be much worse were it not for an increase in grants over the last 10 years – an area where Cochrane said Arizona excels.
Federal loans are generally fixed-rate and flexible, allowing a wide array of repayment options and borrower protections, such as the ability to put payments on hold when attending school or unable to work.
Of those that did report, the public college where students left with the least debt a year ago is The University of Minnesota-Crookston at $23,621, while for a private nonprofit it was Martin Luther College in New Ulm, at $17,391. Private student lenders, like banks, also aren’t required to report lending data, so TICAS’ report only looks at federal student debt. Most high-debt states are in the Northeast and Midwest, while low-debt states are concentrated in the West.
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Illinois also had “notable exceptions” like Northwestern University and University of Illinois at Chicago, where debt levels did not snowball like the state or national averages. It included 56 percent of such schools. That’s barely a tick up from the average of $28,400 that the class of 2013 had, according to last year’s report from TICAS. Borrowing increased 57 percent in Michigan, to $29,450; 50 percent in Indiana, to $29,222; 67 percent in Missouri, to $25,844; and 74 percent in Wisconsin, to $28,810.
