A new national survey ranks New Hampshire second – and Vermont fourth – in the amount of debt students pile up getting through college.
The Project on Student Debt says that after four years of college, the average New Hampshire student graduates with $25,000 in debt; Vermont’s students average $24,300.
There’s concern in Vermont that student debt loads may prompt young people to leave the state. Some find it easier to pay a $300 or $400 monthly student loan bill with the higher salaries they can earn in New York or Boston.
Underlying college costs are cited as the cause. They jumped 6 percent at Vermont’s public colleges from 2006 to 2007.