New Hampshire continues to be the state whose graduates hold the highest amount of debt upon graduation from college. According to the 2011 survey, New Hampshire college graduates have, on average, $31, 048 in student debt. This is an increase of 20 percent from just two years ago when the average was $25,785.
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New Hampshire’s government only continues to shoot off its own foot when it comes to funding higher education in this state. As the massive cuts to higher education funding continue to impact education in the state and cause prices to increase, the amount of debt held by New Hampshire students will only continue to grow. The high cost of higher education in this state will push out driven, motivated and educated students leaving New Hampshire without a future to grow economically from.
New Hampshire is doing a disservice to its residents who are attending college and deterring anyone from wanting to stay in New Hampshire for the long term. Continually placing first for having students graduating with the highest level of student debt is not a badge of honor. It’s a mark of shame upon our state.
Graduating students with obscene debt is not showing our commitment to independence and libertarian ideals, it’s showing our short-sightedness when it comes to the future of our state. We are not putting our best foot forward by sending the best and brightest our state has to offer overloaded with record-high, nearly unmanageable debt.