Report: R.I. fifth highest for student debt

RHODE ISLAND ranked among the top 10 states with the highest average student debt (for those students with college loans), based on statistics for Class of 2015 graduates of Ocean State institutions of higher learning. / COURTESY INSTITUTE FOR COLLEGE ACCESS & SUCCESS
RHODE ISLAND ranked among the top 10 states with the highest average student debt (for those students with college loans), based on statistics for Class of 2015 graduates of Ocean State institutions of higher learning. / COURTESY INSTITUTE FOR COLLEGE ACCESS & SUCCESS

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked fifth highest in the nation for its average student debt of $32,920, according to a report released Tuesday by the Project on Student Debt at The Institute for College Access & Success.
The 11th annual report listed data for the Class of 2015, and student debt information for Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island, Brown University, Bryant University, Providence College, Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University and Salve Regina University.
Among the four-year institutions, RWU students had the highest average debt in 2015 at $40,612, while Brown University students had the least with an average of $22,197.
New Hampshire ranked first in the country for student debt with an average of $36,101, followed by Pennsylvania at $34,798; Connecticut, $34,773; and Delaware, $33,849. Massachusetts was seventh at $31,466.
Utah had the least amount of student debt at $18,873.
When ranked by percentage of students with debt, Rhode Island, at 64 percent, falls to No. 14. In that category, New Hampshire again is in first place at 76 percent.
The report said student debt is continuing to rise for new graduates, noting that seven in 10 seniors (68 percent) who graduated from public and nonprofit colleges in 2015 had student loan debt, with an average of $30,100 per borrower. That figure represents a 4 percent increase from the average debt of 2014 graduates.
“We need to make college more affordable and debt less burdensome for students and families,” TICAS President Lauren Asher said in a statement.

For-profit colleges were not included because few report their graduates’ debt loads, according to the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit organization.
An interactive map featuring student debt information by state can be found HERE.

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