<p>I am going 4 years, 2 degrees, lived on campus for two years, off for two. Studied abroad at least one summer semester. I am probably going to graduate with $20k in debt. School costs about $23k a year for room, board, tuition and everything. I have a $20k scholarship and then get a lot of financial aid. Parents contribute nothing but I am grateful to graduate with that little of debt. I am also lucky in that those are all federal loans. I will not have to take out any private loans.</p>
<p>$24k cannot be the average debt, unless there are a lot of rich students whose parents are paying full freight that I haven’t met.</p>