Student Debt Owed by Class of 2012 Borrowers Rises to $29,400
By Janet Lorin - Dec 4, 2013
U.S. college students are leaving school with higher amounts of debt as they increase borrowing to keep up with rising tuition.
Graduates of the class of 2012 who took loans for bachelors’ degrees owed an average of $29,400. The level of debt represents an average annual increase of 6 percent from the $23,450 incurred by borrowers who graduated in 2008, the last year the federal government reported the data, according to a report released today by The Institute for College Access & Success, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit group.
The share of college seniors with debt rose to 71 percent from 68 percent in the four-year period. States with the highest debt were in the Northeast and Midwest, led by Delaware. Low-debt states were mostly in the West and South, with New Mexico having the least.
Student debt surpassed what people owe on their credit cards more than three years ago as more borrow for college and tuition costs rise. Outstanding education debt is about $1.2 trillion, including government and private loans taken out by students and their parents, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-04/student-debt-owed-by-class-of-2012-borrowers-rises-to-29-400.html
