Survey: New Jersey Ranks 9th Nationally In Student Loan Debt

WOODLAND PARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP)-- A new study compiled by a private web marketplace for student loans and refinancing found that New Jersey ranks ninth nationally in student loan debt.

The average debt per borrower in the state last year was more than $30,000, and 63 percent of all students had to take out a college loan, according to the study from LendEDU. The average debt per borrower nationwide was more than $28,000, The Record reported.

The group used self-reported data from 1,300 schools across the country for the class of 2015.

Borrowers at small private colleges in the state amassed the largest amount of debt. At Centenary College, a small school in Hackettstown, 100 percent of graduates took out loans that averaged $40,588, according to the survey. About 95 percent of Bloomfield College students used loans, and the survey said the average amount of debt was $46,574.

The survey found that even students at the state's public four-year colleges and universities took on substantial debt. At Rutgers University in Brunswick, 59 percent of students took on an average of $25,334.

Students at the state's Ivy League school, Princeton University, had the fewest number of students with loans, 16 percent, and the lowest average debt at $8,577, the survey said.

LendEDU founder and CEO Nate Matherson said six out of 10 students use debt to finance college on average. About 90 percent of student loans come from the federal government, he said.

"These colleges need student loans as much as the students who used them,'' Matherson said.

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