MSU’s debt burden is high when factoring in the national salary level for a graduate with a bachelor’s degree, according to the service.

Val Meyers, the associate director of MSU’s Office of Financial Aid, said compared to smaller schools, the average student debt level at MSU most likely would be high.

“We probably are going to be, overall, a high-debt school,” she said. “Of course, we’d always like to have less debt.”

The sticker price of attending MSU is about $23,202 for a student’s first year, according to the website.

This year, an in-state undergraduate student taking 14 credits a semester will pay about $11,389 per semester, according to the MSU Office of the Controller.

Interdisciplinary studies in social science and health studies senior Stephanie Crosby has taken out about $20,000 in student loans to attend MSU, and does not have a plan to repay them yet.
“I think that just tuition is a result of the recession,” she said. “I definitely have a lot of debt.”

According to the Financial Comparison Shopper, the average MSU student receives $8,480 in grants and scholarships and takes out about $14,722 in aid for their first year in school.

Total borrowing is similar at the University of Michigan, where the average student borrows about $14,355 and receives $10,849 in total scholarships and grants for their first year.

Meyers said declining state aid to universities has hampered the department’s ability to distribute as much aid as it would like.

“We realize that there’s balance between what the university can do (and) what the state of Michigan has not been able to do,” she said. “It’s always a struggle.”

Graduate student Amanda Fairbank said current tuition levels aren’t excessive, but it could get much worse in the future­ — leading to more student debt.

“I think it’s okay right now,” she said. “If they keep increasing it, it’s going to get ridiculous.”