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WNIJ's summary of news items around our state.

Survey Finds Illinois Has 14th Highest Level Of Overall Student Debt

Illinois Times

A recent survey shows that Illinois residents carry the 14th highest amount of student debt among all 50 states.

The study, compiled by WalletHub, based its rankings on two general sets of data. The first set relates directly to student debt, such as debt’s share of student income, as well as how many debts have gone into default. The other set of data measured potential ways to alleviate this debt, such as availability of student jobs, grants, and paid internships.

Pooling these factors together, Illinois ranked 14th out of the 50 states and District of Columbia.  However, it ranked 15th when it came to student debt exclusively. The state scored 25th when it came to availability of debt-reduction measures.

Comparatively speaking, Ohio, Mississippi and Pennsylvania had the highest levels of student debt and lack of access to jobs and grants. At the other end of the scale, Utah and Hawaii have the most favorable work opportunities and lowest levels of debt.

You can examine the data in its entirety at WalletHub's website