Hawaii’s college graduates are managing student debt better than their peers anywhere else in the country, according to a new WalletHub report released this week.
The personal finance website ranked Hawaii as the state with the least student debt, determined by measures including average student debt and the share of students with past-due loan balances.
Hawaii graduates had an average $23,456 in loans in 2015 (the latest year data was available) according to the report, which was less than all but six other states and down from $24,554 in 2014. That number includes students who graduated from any state higher education institution and excludes Hawaii residents who graduated from college out of state.
The report also says that 3.96 percent of student loan borrowers in Hawaii were 50 and older in 2015, which was the lowest percentage in the country. Just half of Hawaii students in 2015 had any sort of debt, WalletHub said, lower than all but four other states.
Student debt in Hawaii equated to 23.62 percent of a resident’s income in 2016, according to the report, down from 58.04 percent in 2015.
“I hope (debt) is going down,” said University of Hawaii at Hilo student Kilipaki Gouveia, 20, on Wednesday in response to report findings. “No one wants to be in debt. And sometimes it’s hard because it can be expensive to go to college. Some people want to learn, but they just can’t pay for it.”
It isn’t entirely clear why Hawaii students have less debt, though affordability could be a factor: At UH-Hilo, students pay $7,200 per year in tuition to attend, lower than the national average of $9,650.
And last year, the UH Board of Regents approved a new plan that increases tuition rates by a maximum of 2 percent each year — the lowest increases in several years.
UH-Hilo also is on track to award a record amount of financial aid this year. As of June, the campus had pledged $55 million in financial aid to 2,852 students for the 2017-18 school year, increasing the total number of students awarded aid by about 250 over the same time last year.
About 75 percent of UH-Hilo students receive some sort of aid.
The WalletHub report ranked Ohio the No. 1 state in the country for student debt, followed by Mississippi. Data shows student debt nationally for the class of 2015 ranged from a low of $18,850 in Utah to a high of $36,101 in New Hampshire.
The full WalletHub report can be found at tinyurl.com/HawaiiStudentDebt.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
