Student debt after graduation has continued to increase nationally, rising 6 percent since the Class of 2009.

‘Student Debt and the Class of 2009,’ published in October by the Project on Student Debt, showed 2009 college graduates have an average student debt of $24,000. At Syracuse University, there is an average student debt of $28,358, according to the study, more than $4,000 than the student average.

The study collected the statistics on how colleges and universities distributed aid, said Edie Irons, communication director for the Institute for College Access and Success, the organization that runs the Project on Student Debt.

‘There are some private colleges with very generous financial aid packages where tuition is very high but student debt is low, and then there are lower-cost schools with alarmingly high student debt,’ Irons said.

At SU, 65 percent of the graduates have debt after college, according to the annual report. In addition, 22 percent of students received Federal Pell Grants. SU awarded $178 million in scholarships and grants for this academic year, according to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarship Programs’ website.

The information from the study was licensed from Peterson’s, a company that compiles data on undergraduate and graduate programs from all over the country, Irons said. The Institute analyzed the data, which was collected between July 2008 and June 2009, and broke the information down to the state level.

The Institute has conducted this study for the past five years because it is important for people to know how students at colleges across the country are borrowing money, Irons said.

Trends on student debt in different geographical locations show the Northeast consistently has high student debt, and the West and Southwest show lower debt, Irons said. This could be attributed to the fact that there are more private colleges and universities in the Northeast, where students come out with more debt than in the West, he said.

New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania were all among the top 10 highest debt states. Utah, Georgia, California, Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana and Washington were among the 10 lowest debt states, according to the annual report.

College debt can also affect post-college jobs, as it adds pressure for students to find decent paying jobs, Irons said. At the current average debt rate, graduates would have to pay $300 per month if they wish to pay off the debt in 10 years.

‘Unfortunately, we know that taking public service jobs or lower paying jobs, such as teaching or social work, has a real impact on people’s lives after graduation,’ Irons said.

Ricky Podsiadlo graduated from SU in 2009 with a degree in information management and technology. He said he knew he wanted to work in the IT field and found a job right out of college with Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Podsiadlo said he had $50,000 in student debt and he elected to pay it off in 30 years because he is currently not making a lot of money. He said he hopes as he furthers his career, he’ll be making enough money to pay his debt off faster. But for now, he said, this was the best plan. He also said he would still like to keep graduate school as an option.

‘Ideally I would like to do a grad program where the company I work for pays for it, so we’ll see what happens in the future,’ Podsiadlo said.

While paying back student loans may seem daunting, Irons said, there are numerous options for managing loan repayment. The Project on Student Debt’s website has information on how to deal with student debt. Irons also suggested students keep in mind the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives debt after 10 years of eligible employment and qualifying loan payments.

‘Federal loan repayment ties monthly payments to income,’ Irons said. ‘So if you don’t make a lot of money and have a lot of debt, this tool is very useful.’

hawentz@syr.edu

 

Published on November 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm