FRANKFORT, Ky. — Good news from the Council on Postsecondary Education. According to a new report, more students are graduating college debt free.
The Undergraduate Student Debt Levels in Kentucky report looks at debt trends among students attending public universities or a school in the Kentucky Community and Technical College system. The report found students graduating without debt dropped almost 15% over the last five years, from 58.1% in 2017-2018 to 43.2% om 2022-2023. The drop is even bigger over the past ten years, dropping 20.8% since 2011-2012.
Council president Aaron Thompson said, “This good news is the direct result of efforts by legislators, CPE and public institutions to moderate tuition increases, award more financial aid, and provide greater financial literacy advising.” Thompson added, “Encouragingly, we’re seeing debt levels fall across the board, even for underrepresented and low-income students at both two-year and four-year institutions.”
The report also looked at graduates who had debt and found their average loan balances dropped from $29,224 to $26,414 in the last five years. That is a 9.6% drop. The CPE says the decline happened regardless of what degree students pursued or student demographics.
“Anecdotally, we hear that student loan debt is skyrocketing, but the data in Kentucky tell a different story,” said Dr. Christopher Ledford, associate director of data and analytics and the report’s lead author.
Other findings of the report include:
At KCTCS institutions, average loan balances among students graduating with debt fell from $15,057 to $13,644 over the same period, a decline of 9.4%.
Since 2017-18, KCTCS graduates from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds, who graduated with debt, saw their average loan balances decline by 13.9% and 8.5%, respectively.
At public universities, average loan balances among students graduating with debt fell from $34,833 to $33,317 over the same period, a decline of 4.4%.
Since 2017-18, four-year graduates from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds, who graduated with debt, saw their average loan balances decline by 5.7% and 6.5%, respectively.
Deborah Harbsmeier - Executive Producer, Digital
Deborah Harbsmeier is the executive producer of digital content for Spectrum News 1 Kentucky. The award-winning producer has been in television news for more than 30 years.
