As the cost of college has risen in Georgia, so has the debt load carried by its students.
The average one-year cost for a new full-time student at a public four-year institution was $18,500 in Georgia in 2010-2011, according to data from the Southern Regional Education Board.
Of that amount, about $8,000 was funded through scholarships and grants, leaving $10,500 for students and their families to pay. To fill the gap, students and families turned to private grant aid and loans, raised their personal contributions, or cut expenses, the SREB found.
The average debt load of a Georgia college graduate from a four-year institution in 2012 was $23,089, which was the 37th-highest in the nation, according to data from the Project on Student Debt. That amount increased from $22,443 the previous year.
Despite the costs, there is a direct benefit in attaining a college degree. A recent Pew Research survey found that college graduates ages 25 to 32 who are working full time earn about $17,500 more annually than working young adults with only a high school diploma. They were also more likely to be employed full time and have lower unemployment rates.
It is not known how many Georgia residents would directly benefit from President Barack Obama’s plans to ease student loan debt, but any plan to address the issue is promising, said Tim Renick, vice provost at Georgia State University, especially for low-income students.
“These are the (students) who take on more debt to get through college,” he said, “and after college will be burdened by having to pay these loans back.”
Overall in Georgia about 59 percent of students graduate with some kind of loan debt, Renick said. “At institutions that enroll more lower-income students,” he said, “the numbers are considerably higher.”
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