Student debt levels rose by five percent last year according to a study by the Institute for College Access and Success.The national average debt for graduates with a bachelor's degree hit $26,600 for the class of 2011, but college students in New York state are graduating with an average debt of around $800 less.
Debbie Cochrane from the Institute says the state sits in the middle of the pack and ranks nineteenth in the country for student debt.
Cochrane also says there is greater disparity in New York between community and private, non-profit college loans.
There's a real difference between the public college graduates in New York, and the private non-profit graduates in New York, in that public college graduates tend to have about $20,000 to $21,000 in student loan debt, whereas students graduating from the non-profits have about $30,000," Cochrane said.
Two-thirds of all 2011 graduates left college carrying loans ranging from $3,000 to more than $50,000.
