Sarah McEvilly doesn't even want to think about how much money she's borrowed for college.

A journalism junior from Illinois, McEvilly estimates she will have accumulated a debt of $80,000 for tuition and living expenses by the time she graduates.

"I really don't think about paying school off now," McEvilly said. "I'll just worry about that later - when I have a job."

Although McEvilly's case is extreme, graduating seniors of 2002 owed an average of $17,800 in loans - $4,705 more than in 1996 - according to the MSU Office of Financial Aid.

Rick Shipman, financial aid director, said the increase is influenced by many factors, including rising tuition rates.

"Costs go up and federal aid programs don't keep pace with them," Shipman said, adding students are borrowing more under normal federal student loan programs.

There are two kinds of federal loans: subsidized and unsubsidized. Subsidized loans are awarded to students based on need. Interest doesn't begin until six months after recipients graduate. Unsubsidized loans are available to anyone, Shipman said, but interest on the loan accumulates.

While the amount of money MSU students borrowed for subsidized loans stayed about the same over the last six years, students took out more money in unsubsidized loans.

Students who didn't qualify for need-based loans are borrowing increasingly larger amounts of money, Shipman said.

"A large part of this increase is to finance lifestyle choices," he said. "We don't budget for cars, cell phones. Students are often living at a level we're not budgeted for."

Shipman also said alternative student loans from banks are growing in popularity. MSU first began keeping a record of alternative loans in 1999. In that year, 884 students borrowed $4.8 million from private providers. Two years later that number had grown to 1,200 students who borrowed $7.5 million.

"They'll lend to anyone because being an MSU student guarantees you'll get a good job," Shipman said, adding some students take out alternative loans instead of working.

"They can work and earn money or they can take out alternative loans," he said.

Physics junior Tim Roth didn't qualify for need-based loans because his parents made enough money. But the family, from Massachusetts, couldn't afford out-of-state fees, so he took out loans from a bank.

"They don't have enough money lying around to pay for school," he said. So far, Roth has borrowed about $26,000 from Ohio-based Key Bank, where the interest rates were "pretty high."

"It's really easy to borrow - just call them up," he said, adding he's used some of the loan money to buy a car.

But while Roth estimates he'll owe the bank between $40,000 and $50,000, he doesn't worry about it right now.

"I'll be able to pay it back when I get out of school," he said.