skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Wisconsin Student Loan Debt at Staggering Level

play audio
Play

Tuesday, December 27, 2016   

MADISON, Wis. – While the past year has brought some discussion among political leaders and candidates about the level of student-loan debt in Wisconsin, nothing substantive has been done to address the growing crisis. Democrats in the state Legislature have introduced bills in each of the last several sessions that would allow students to refinance their student loans, such as a mortgage or car loan, but the legislation has gone nowhere.

Analiese Eicher, the program director of the advocacy group, One Wisconsin Now, said the numbers for Wisconsin are staggering.

"There are about 800,000 Wisconsinites who hold over $19 billion in federal student loan debt, and that's not including private loans, that is just federal student loan debt," she explained.

Figures from The Institute for College Access and Success indicate that about 70 percent of Wisconsin college grads leave school with student loan debt bills to pay. Nationally, levels of student loan debt have risen in the past year, and Wisconsin mirrors that trend. Wisconsin remains in the top five states nationally for percentage of college grads with student loan debt.

In the Badger state, the average debt of graduates from four-year public universities is $29,460. Eicher said the latest figures revealed a surprise about which university's graduates carry the most debt.

"One thing that really stood out to us at One Wisconsin Institute was the amount of debt that graduates from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh have," she said. "They're averaging over $33,000 in debt when they graduate."

Eicher said that huge debt load represents money that college grads can't spend on buying houses, appliances, cars and other items that would help stimulate the economy. She said it also hampers college grads in trying to save for retirement, when they're paying hundreds of dollars a month in student loan debt.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …


Organizations fighting wage theft said it harms affected workers and surrounding communities because the money withheld is not being circulated through the local economy. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021