Student Loan Debt Up Again Among New College Grads

Class of 2011 graduates into slow market with increased average debt

Young people in the U.S. are said to be too optimist about their future, compared with their peers abroad. Here’s something to knock them down a bit; two-third of the national college class of 2011 finished school with loan debt averaging $26,600, up about 5 percent from the class before it, according to the latest figures calculated by the Institute for College Access and Success. The report, released Thursday, does not include the debt of for-profit college graduates, who typically borrow more than their public university counterparts. But there’s a bright spot; even those who graduated indebted into an economy with an 8.8 percent unemployment rate in 2011 were better off than those without a degree, the report noted. The unemployment rate for those with only a high school credential last year was 19.1 percent. (Associated Press)

[SUBSCRIBE TO LOOP 21 RSS FEED]