Slippery Rock University President William J. Behre knows of several studies that rank Pennsylvania among the states with the highest amounts of college student debt in the country.

The results of those studies are directly linked, he said, to other studies showing that Pennsylvania ranks among the lowest for public financial support for post-secondary education.

“Depending on who you talk to and the measurement you use, Pennsylvania is 47th in ranking for state support for high education,” Behre said. “If you are not funding higher education adequately at the state level, at least in the state system that is what I can speak to, students will have higher debt.”

A typical Slippery Rock student's loan debt is slightly above $35,000 and the state average is $36,000, he said. The average in Ohio, with which Slippery Rock competes for students, is $30,000, he said.

A recent student debt ranking from WalletHub, which provides online financial advice and credit reports, ranked Pennsylvania second behind South Dakota in student debt.

WalletHub's study examined average student debt, share of students with debt, student debt as share of income, share of student loans in default, share of federal student loan borrowers enrolled in an income driven repayment plan and share of student loan borrowers ages 50 and above to develop its ranking.

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