Average student loan debt nears $27,000

Thanks to rising tuition and a tough job market, college seniors graduated with an average of nearly $27,000 in student loan debt last year.

Two-thirds of the class of 2011 held student loans upon graduation, and the average borrower owed $26,600, according to a report from the Institute for College Access & Success’ Project on Student Debt. That’s up 5% from 2010 and is the highest level of debt in the seven years the report has been published.

The increase comes at a time when unemployment has remained stubbornly high for college graduates— it was at 8.8% for 2011. Those without a college degree are more than twice as likely to end up without jobs, however. The unemployment rate for recent high school graduates was 19.1% last year.

SOURCE: CNN.