Apparently some students attending college in New York still have large student debt, even though the school they attend is public. From the New York Post came an article yesterday demonstrating that students in public and private schools often end up owing equivalent amounts:
“Big sticker prices at schools are sometimes deceiving,” said Edie Irons, spokeswoman for the Institute for College Access & Success, a higher-education advocacy group.
Columbia University, for instance, charges $41,200 a year in tuition, yet its graduates have an average of $18,420 in student-loan debt when they receive their sheepskins.
Meanwhile, the average grad from CUNY City College leaves school with a debt of $16,950 despite having shelled out only $4,600 a year in tuition.
Students who go to elite, private colleges graduate with the same (or even less) debt as students in public colleges. This trend continues upstate, too. Students at SUNY Fredonia owe an average $23,452, despite the fact that the school only costs $4,970 a year. But graduates of Sarah Lawrence College (where tuition is $41,000 a year) have an average student loan burden of only $15,581.
Private schools are often still very costly for students, however. The highest student debt in New York was held by graduates of New York University, the second most expensive school in the United States of America. NYU graduates have an average student loan debt of $34,850.
