<p>I was surprised to find that the graduated students from some colleges I was looking into have large amounts of student debt.
For example, about half of the Case Western students have an average debt of $37,000; 70% of IL Wesleyan graduates have an average debt of $33,000, and Marquette is somewhat similar.
I'm middle class, and only one of my parents will be able to help pay for college; should I let these numbers stop me from applying? Especially for the ones like Wesleyan, it seems very likely that I'll also end up with a large amount of debt, which I should probably avoid if possible.</p>
<p>Go to the financial aid forum and look at the pinned threads for options</p>
<p>I don’t think any numbers posted about the avg student debt are all that meaningful. Students are limited in how much they can take out in loans, $5500 freshman yr and $7500 by sr yr. That debt is all that “students” can have. Parents, otoh, are expected to meet their EFC and that amt can be very high forcing many parents to take out plus loans. So “avg student debt” is only a 1/2 of the complete picture.</p>
<p>For example ds had something like the following as his offer from one $60,000+ school… $30,000 in scholarship, $5500 in loans, $2000 in work study, and something like $25,000 in parental contribution. Since we don’t have that amt of money available, from our perspective ds’s offer was $30,500 in loans per yr for a total of $122,000 over 4 yrs. Only $22,000 would be his, but that is not an accurate statement of debt incurred.</p>
<p>Fwiw, run net price calculators for specific schools and see what numbers you get. Ds applied to schools with really competitive full ride scholarships and was not a winner. He applied to schools with guaranteed scholarships combined with selective ones. He ended up at a full ride option even though he was accepted at some top schools bc it is what fits our budget.</p>