UNC student debt below national average

North Carolina students, particularly those at UNC-Chapel Hill, graduate with significantly less debt than students nationwide, according to a recent student debt study.

A combination of affordable higher education options and multiple sources for financial aid money helps reduce the need for students to take out loans to pay for college, financial aid officials say.

The study, produced by the Institute for College Access and Success “Project on Student Debt” and updated this year, found that while the national average for student loan debt for 2008 public college graduates was $20,200. In 2007, North Carolina students graduated with an average of only $18,400 in debt — less than the average in 38 other states.

The average 2009 UNC graduate accumulated $14,262 in debt over the course of four years, said Shirley Ort, associate provost and director of the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid.

The study examines schools’ self-reported average debts against enrollment numbers to calculate states’ averages, so UNC’s low debt made an impact on North Carolina’s relatively low average, said Edie Irons, communications director for the Project on Student Debt.

Carolina Covenant, a financial aid program that helps eligible students from low-income families graduate with no student debt, is a major reason that UNC can have such a low debt average, Irons said.

Ort credits revenue from trademark licensing, scholarships created from Student Stores profits, alumni and donor contributions, and appropriations in the state budget as key to UNC’s ability to provide financial assistance to students with need.

Thirty-five percent of all tuition increases also went toward financial aid in the past, she said.

The low cost of higher education in the state also contributes to North Carolina’s low overall debt averages, said Ben Kittner, spokesman for College Foundation, Inc., which provides many of the loans that go to students enrolling in N.C. universities.

Kittner said the state provides $600 million in need-based scholarships and grants each year.

“Students don’t need to borrow quite as much because the state has kept the cost of public universities low,” Kittner said.

According to the study, 67 percent of students nationwide — about 1.4 million — graduated from four-year universities with some student loan debt. In North Carolina, that number was only 55 percent.

UNC’s rates fall well below the national average — only about 29 percent of UNC students graduated with student debt in 2008, down from about 35 percent in 2004, Ort said.

Students gain advantages from graduating with relatively little or no debt. “It does help them. It gives them a little leg up when they are looking at graduate or professional school,” Ort said.

“I think it gives students more flexibility to take advantage of the opportunities that college is supposed to provide,” Irons said.

 

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.