Public higher education students graduating with more debt than Stanford
In 2008, before the 2009 massive tuition increases at UC and CSU, students graduating from 11 public four year colleges in California graduated with more debt than students graduating from Stanford:
| College | College Administered Debt |
Estimated Total Debt |
|
| CSU Northridge | $21,943 | $44,000 | |
| CSU San Bernadino | $17,872 | $36,000 | |
| Cal Poly San Luis Obispo | $17,848 | $36,000 | |
| UC Santa Barbara | $17,107 | $35,000 | |
| CSU Stanislaus | $17,000 | $34,000 | |
| UCLA | $16,733 | $34,000 | |
| San Jose State University | $16,687 | $34,000 | |
| UC San Diego | $16,317 | $34,000 | |
| CSU Dominguez Hills | $16,319 | $34,000 | |
| UC Santa Cruz | $15,918 | $32,000 | |
| San Francisco State University | $15,753 | $32,000 | |
| Stanford University | $15,724 | $32,000 |
Data in the first column represents student debt that is administered by colleges. The data was collected by The Project on Student Debt; these numbers understate the level of debt because they do not include private debt that students incur, debt incurred by students who do not graduate, or debt that students take with them when they transfer. Data from a national study of college student debt conducted by the Gallup Organization for Sallie Mae suggests that total student debt is about twice the amounts administered by colleges; this fact is used to estimate the amounts in the second column based on the debt levels reported by the colleges.
The Wall Street Journal describes the long-term problems college debt causes for students after they graduate, which could be the next subprime debt bubble to burst.