Paul Partridge on the escalating debts of NJ college students.
Here’s a related story to yesterday’s blog on the sadly escalating student loan default rate.
The Project on Student Debt recently released their latest figures on the growing amounts of money owed by graduating college students. Here’s the situation:
The average debt of a New Jersey college student has ballooned to $21,217. And two out of every three New Jersey college students now graduate with debt. That ranks the Garden State 11th in the country. (South Dakota is first… er, last… with 81% of its college students graduating in debt.)
Here are the numbers at some popular New Jersey colleges and universities (as reported by The Project on Student Debt). It’s important to note that these are 2007 numbers (the latest figures available). In 2007 we were enjoying robust economic times. With today’s deteriorating economy these numbers are likely to get worse, perhaps substantially so.
| The College of New Jersey |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 19,459 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 19,459 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
54% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
54% |
| Drew University |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 16,777 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 18,275 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
62% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
59% |
| Kean University |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 30,140 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 20,037 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
72% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
75% |
| NJ Institute of Technology |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 13,000 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 13,000 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
45% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
45% |
| Monmouth University |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 34,484 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 33,092 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
76% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
76% |
| Princeton University |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 5,592 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 4,965 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
22% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
26% |
| Rider University |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 32,132 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 28,548 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
76% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
79% |
| Ramapo College |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 20,513 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 15,937 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
51% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
37% |
| Rutgers University |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 16,609 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 16,283 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
66% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
65% |
| Seton Hall University |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 29,108 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 29,108 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
68% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
68% |
| Stevens Institute of Technology |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2007: |
$ 14,113 |
| Average Debt of Graduates 2006: |
$ 14,113 |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2007: |
68% |
| Proportion of Graduates w/debt 2006: |
68% |
