Half of Florida College Grads With Average Student Loan Debt of $23,054

According to Takepart.com, “Our student loan debt is $1 trillion and climbing. According to a new report, two-thirds of college seniors who graduated last year had student loan debt. The average was $26,600 per borrower. This is the highest average debt among students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in U.S. history.” In Florida 51% of college graduates had an average debt of $23, 054. For a list of Florida colleges and universities with tuition costs and average debt per student click here.

‘To make things even more difficult, unemployment for recent college grads was at 8.8 percent in 2011,” states Takepart.com.

Takepart.com issue a report, by the Project on Student Debt, showing which states have the largest student loan debt and highest college tuition, both public and private.

The Project on Student Debt report notes:

We estimate that two-thirds (66%) of college seniors who graduated in 2011 had student loan debt, with an average of $26,600 for those with loans.1 The five percent increase in average debt at the national level is similar to the average annual increase over the past few years. Also similar to previous years, about one-fifth of graduates’ debt is comprised of private loans.

State averages for debt at graduation from four-year colleges ranged widely in 2011, from $17,250 to $32,450. Graduates’ likelihood of having debt, and their average debt load, also varied widely by college.

High-debt states remain concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, with low-debt states mainly in the West and South. Average debt continues to vary even more at the campus level than at the state level, from $3,000 to $55,250. Colleges with higher costs tend to have higher average debt, but there are many examples of high-cost colleges with low average debt, and vice versa.

Project on Student Debt states, “Recent college graduates have entered an enormously difficult job market, which poses particular challenges for those who need to begin paying back student loans. The unemployment rate for young college graduates in 2011 remained high at 8.8 percent, a slight decrease from 2010, which saw the highest annual rate on record for this group (9.1%). In addition, many more young graduates were considered underemployed. Among those who wanted to be working full time, as many as 19.1 percent were either working part time or had given up looking for work.3 Further, 37.8 percent of working young graduates had jobs that did not require a college degree, depressing their wages.”

To view the average student loan debt by state click here.

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