DiNapoli report: college student-loan debt doubled in New York over last decade

Student-loan debt in New York state more than doubled during the last decade to $82 billion from $39 billion, as more people attended college, borrowing money to do so, and tuition spiked. That’s according to a recent report issued by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

The comptroller’s report found that the average New Yorker with college loans owed $32,200 in 2015, higher than the national average of $29,700.

“New Yorkers saddled with college debt have less disposable income and often have to push off buying a home or saving for the future. Such struggles have implications not only for those individuals and families with such debt but also for the state’s economy,” DiNapoli said in a news release announcing the report’s findings.

The number of student-loan borrowers in New York has risen by more than 41 percent over the past 10 years to 2.8 million. Nationwide, the number of borrowers rose by nearly 60 percent to 43.7 million.

Student loans represented 11.4 percent of the $722 billion in outstanding consumer (or household) debt in New York in 2015, according to the comptroller. Figures on student loans do not include other debt that families and students incur to pay for college such as taking out home-equity loans, borrowing from retirement accounts, or using credit cards.

Rising college costs are a major factor in the growth of student-loan debt. From 2005-06 through 2014-15, average costs for tuition, fees, and room and board for four-year colleges and universities in New York rose by more than 50 percent for both state schools and private colleges, according to the report.

In 2005-06, the average cost in New York for full-time undergraduate tuition, fees, room and board for New York residents at a public college was $13,275. That shot up 55 percent to $20,549 in 2014-15.

Those same costs for New Yorkers attending private colleges rose 50 percent from $32,478 in 2005-06 to $48,845 in 2014-15.

While individuals’ student-loan debts vary significantly among local areas in New York, the report found that individuals with higher loan balances were concentrated in downstate areas, where the cost of living is higher.

In 2015, Manhattan led all areas of the state with an average student-loan borrower balance of $44,500, followed by the Lower Hudson Valley at $36,000.

CNY balances
Among Central New York regions, the Ithaca area had the highest average student-loan balance in 2015 at $29,900, up 32 percent from 2006.

The Syracuse area had an average loan balance of $29,200 in 2015, up 57 percent since 2006, according to the DiNapoli report.

In Binghamton, the average loan balance was $28,000 in 2015, up nearly 64 percent.

The Utica–Rome and Elmira regions each had an average student-loan balance of $26,400 in 2015, up 60 percent and 74 percent, respectively, since 2006.

The Watertown–Fort Drum area ranked lowest among Central New York regions and all of New York state areas for which data are available, with an average balance of $23,500, up 45 percent in the last decade.

The proportion of student-loan borrowers in New York and the nation whose payments were 90 or more days late rose over the past decade, according to the report. The share of borrowers with late payments in New York jumped from 8.9 percent in 2006 to 14 percent by 2012, but fell to 12.5 percent in 2015, which was still substantially higher than in 2006.

Among Central New York regions, the percentage of student-loan borrowers who were 90 or more days late in payment in 2015 ranged from a low of 9.1 percent in Ithaca to a high of 14.2 percent in Elmira. Those numbers were all higher than in 2006 but lower than 2012 levels.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com