Higher Ed Roundup: Week of October 20 – October 24

Student Debt Loads Increase, Report Finds

Economic Downturn Impacting College Decisions, Survey Finds

College Board Unveils Test for 8^th Graders

Student Debt Loads Increase, Report Finds

Students are sinking ever deeper into debt, according to a new report released on Wednesday by the Project on Student Debt. The average level of federal student loan debt owed by graduating seniors in 2007 was $20,098, up 6 percent from $18,976 in 2006. The report found that students at public colleges had a lower debt burden on average ($18,482) than those at private institutions who owed an average of $23,065. The most heavily indebted students were in the Northeast, where a larger share of students attend private institutions, and the Upper Midwest, while the lowest-debt states are in the West. The report’s authors estimated that average actual debt burden of graduating seniors was even higher — $21,900 — because the data they were relying on was incomplete. The report noted that student debt is growing faster than starting salaries for new graduates, which grew by about 3 percent over the same time period. “The class of 2007 graduated before the financial downturn, but today’s tough economic times make high student loan payments even harder to bear,” Robert Shireman, the project’s executive director, said in a news release. [Disclosure: Higher Ed Watch is supported in part by Institute for College Access and Success, the sponsor of the Project on Student Debt, with funds provided by the Pew Charitable Trusts.]

Economic Downturn Impacting College Decisions, Survey Finds

The downturn in the economy is having a significant impact on prospective students’ college plans, according to a survey released this week by Meritaid.com, an online source that helps match students with merit scholarships. Of the 2,500 students surveyed, 16 percent said they were putting their college searchers on hold, while an additional 57 percent said they were concentrating on applying to less-expensive, less prestigious colleges because they believed they would be more affordable. Nearly half of the students surveyed reported being “more concerned than ever” about being able to afford college, and 85 percent said they are spending more time looking for merit aid to help cover their costs. Some prospective students said they planned to attend colleges closer to home in order to save on fuel and housing costs.

College Board Unveils Test for 8^th Graders

The organization known to high-schools across the country as the administrator of the SAT will now be offering a test for eighth-graders as well. The new test, Readistep, which will be available to schools beginning next fall, will test students in reading, math, and writing. Readistep is part of the College Board’s College Readiness System and designed to be a diagnostic tool for high schools, not an evaluative tool for college applications or scholarships. Critics, however, questioned the need for yet another standardized exam. “The new test will only accelerate the college admissions arms race and push it down onto ever younger children,” Robert Schaeffer, the public education director of FairTest told The New York Times.