A report released this week by the Project on Student Debt shows average student debt among New Hampshire’s college graduates increased slightly last year.
But that average varies widely among the state’s higher education institutions.
Let’s start with the good news.
New Hampshire no longer ranks dead last when it comes to which states produce college graduates with the most debt.
In the Granite State last year, college students graduated with an average debt of just under $33,000.
Only Delaware ranked worse.
But that’s where the good news ends, especially for those at the University of New Hampshire, where nearly 80 percent of students graduate debt.
And that average debt? Just more than $35,000.
Among the state’s private schools, Saint Anselm College students graduate with nearly $43,000 in debt on average.
And at Dartmouth College, the average debt hovers around $18,000.
A recent report finds high tuition, cuts in state funding and a lack of low-cost options all factor in the state’s high student debt.