8 states where student debt is out of control

Kurtis Droge:

Rising levels of student debt have raised alarm bells in the minds of economists and recent college graduates alike. With a bachelor's degree virtually indispensable in today's workplace -- and a master's necessary in many fields, as well -- many people, be they fresh out of high school or not, have found themselves needing to a seek a higher education in order to pay the bills.

The problem is that these days, college is far from cheap. Tuition for a four-year college can cost easily more than $10,000 per year, ranging all the way up to $50,000 or even more for top-of-the-line institutions. With many inbound college students finding themselves strapped for cash, their only option -- aside from obtaining federal aid -- is to seek loans to cover the difference between the costs of college and living and any income they might obtain in the meantime. This can amount to a crippling debt load by the time students graduate.

However, student debt rates are not the same across the nation: In fact, there is a surprising amount of variance, according to numbers collected by College In Sight. The average graduate of a four-year institution (or higher) with student debt has less than $20,000 of debt in Utah or Arizona. Let's take a look at eight states at the other end of the spectrum, those with the highest amounts of student debt in the country.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 8, 2013 12:31 AM
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