Study: Debt For Arizona College Graduates Among Lowest In US

By Claire Caulfield
Published: Friday, October 30, 2015 - 9:10am
Updated: Friday, October 30, 2015 - 1:50pm

Arizona college graduates in 2014 had the fifth lowest amount of student debt in the nation, according to a study from the Institute for College Access and Success. According to the study, 57 percent of college graduates in Arizona have student debt, and the average amount is over $22,000. 

The states with the lowest average amount of debt are Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Utah had the lowest amount, with about $18,000 in debt per graduate. Western and Southwestern states tend to have the lowest amount of debt said Matthew Reed, the author of the report. He attributed this to more graduates from public universities. 

 “Additionally, some states like California have considerable need-based grant aid. In Arizona there’s not much state grant aid but there is a fairly substantial amount of grant aid from the public colleges,” said Reed.

The study also looked at 10-year trends and found the average amount of college debt has gone up 56 percent since 2004, more than twice the rate of inflation.

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