Student Loans: Worth it?

$27,204

Average Student Loan Debt at graduation for bachelor’s degree recipients in 2011

$34,000

Average student loan debt when additional loans taken out by parents of students are included

$9,320

Average student loan debt in 1993

143,000

Number of people in California’s 33 prisons

80,000

Number the prisons are designed to hold

$0.18

The federal per gallon gas tax, last raised in 1993

872,000

The number of foreclosed homes currently held by banks in the U.S., almost double the number held in 2007

3

Percent drop in average U.S. home values in the first quarter of 2011

33

Percent drop in home prices since the April 2006 peak, according to the CoreLogic index

Sources: NPR.org; Politico.com; New York Times