HACKENSACK, N.J. - It’s no small thing to make it to the top of one of U.S. News and World Report’s college lists. But the folks at Seton Hall University aren’t exactly celebrating their No. 1 national ranking for student-loan debt.

Sixty-one percent of students graduating from the South Orange, N.J., campus have to pay back student loans - the average totaling $37,724, according to America’s Best Colleges 2008. The numbers are high but they are not an aberration. Nationally, nearly two-thirds of graduates of four-year schools have debt, according to the Project on Student Debt. That debt load averages $20,000.

New federal measures are expected to ease some of the burden going forward. But, for now, student debt - which is estimated to have more than doubled in the past decade - has a stranglehold on many students and families.

“I’ll be paying it off for at least 10 years,” said Andrea Antwi, who quickly ran up $20,000 in debt during her freshman year at Seton Hall. She ultimately decided on a less expensive route, attending Essex County College and now Rutgers University, where she is a junior. Still, she will graduate with at least $35,000 in loans to repay. (more…)

According to a recent study, student loan debt is rising faster than starting salaries for new college graduates. The Project on Student Debt found that while average starting salaries from 2006-07 rose by 4 percent, student debt rose by 8 percent during the same time period.

“This study represents what is going on in the economy, as well as increasing college costs,” said
Esther Manogin, director of student financial aid.

The study found the average debt for North Carolina was $17,760 with 55 percent of college students in debt.

However, Appalachian State University students are in debt an average of $14,838 when they graduate and 49 percent have some form of debt.

The Project on Student Debt urged Congress to pass legislation that would help alleviate the cost of college and the amount of debt that college graduates would have. The legislation has been passed and signed into law by President George Bush. (more…)

The costs of a college education continue to rise like a hot air balloon and many fear that they will soon be beyond their reach. Some experts have estimated that the cost of an average four year program at a public college or university may cost as much as $100, 000.00 in fifteen years from now. That’s a lot of money, regardless of your current income.

The good news is that you can play now to avoid that super-hit later on. You may not be able to control the costs of a college education, but you can find ways to lesson that blow. One way is through a 529 college education savings plan and even if your child does not decide to go to university later on you can roll it over to someone else in the family who does.

A 529 plan is named after its section number in the IRS code is a savings plan for college education and when you open an account you have a number of options to choose from.

Those options include prepaying tuition at a qualified educational institution at today’s tuition rates or you can save money in a tax-deferred account that can only be used to pay for education at future tuition rates. (more…)

The average student loan debt depends on the institution and the course which the student is studying. The National Post-Secondary Student Aid Study has calculated the following statistics for average student loans for the academic year 2003-2004.Twenty-one percent of the students attending certificate courses at community colleges had borrowed loans at a median average of $5,307; while 78% of those attending certificate courses at private schools borrowed at a median average of $5,705.

These figures show that the number of student borrowers at the private schools was marginally higher than the number at community schools. Among the associate degree students at community colleges, 28% had borrowed a median average of $5,879.

The statistic among bachelor’s degree students was still higher. For the four-year bachelor’s degree course at public colleges, 58% of students borrowed at a median average of $14,671; while at private colleges, 69% borrowed at $17,125. (more…)