College students are graduating with a lot more than a degree with student loan debt reaching an all time high.
Student loan debt jumped by 4 percent over the 2014 national average, according to an annual report released by the Institute for College Access and Success Tuesday.
In Texas, the cost of higher education continues to be a “major problem” for most adults.
A statewide survey by Western Governors University shows nearly 80 percent of Texans consider student loan debt to be a “major problem,” and more than 90 percent of adults in the state say it is important for the state to fund financial aid for first-time college students from low and middle-income families.
For those Texans without a degree, 72 percent named price as the biggest obstacle in getting one.
“This is particularly concerning as we see increasingly that jobs now and in the future will require post-secondary education,” said, Veronica Vargas Stidvent, Chancellor at WGU Texas.
WGU Texas is an accredited, online, nonprofit, competency-based university that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Chancellor Stidvent said WGU commissioned poll as a public service to get a sense of where Texans stand on higher education issues ahead of the upcoming legislative session.
While the poll found overwhelming concern about the cost and debt associated with college— it also shows the vast majority of Texans still see the value in a four year degree.
In large numbers pollsters noted the importance of higher education and the impact it has on the state’s economy, their own future earning power, and quality of life.
“In short, Texans understand that college matters,” Stidvent said.
She expects the upcoming session will be “difficult” with higher education feeling the pinch of a tight budget, due in part to the drop in oil prices.
The state funds several financial aid programs, but the number of applications exceeds amount of available funds.
“I think it’s too expensive, but my parents were okay to pay for it,” said Adam Bressler.
A freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, Bressler said he wouldn’t be a there if his parents weren’t footing the bill.
He applied for grant money but did not receive any. Without his parents, estimates he’d have to take out more than $100,000 in loans to pay for four years at a public university.
“That is scary,” Bressler said. “I don’t think it’s fair that we’re putting the next generation in so much debt.”
According to the Texas poll, most grads reported less than $10,000 in student loan debt. The Institute for College Access and Success reports the national average is $30,000 – that translates to a monthly payment of $300 over ten years.
