There is hardly any question that a college education, even if you have to borrow to pay for it, is worth the investment.

But many students and their families have to ask themselves: When does the borrowing become too burdensome?

	www.pirg.org/highered

An estimated 39 percent of student borrowers are graduating with unmanageable levels of student loan debt, according to “The Burden of Borrowing,” a new report by the Higher Education Project of the State Public Interest Research Groups.

The average debt among student borrowers has nearly doubled in the past decade to $16,928, according to data from the 1999-2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education.

Yet the average income of 18- to 24-year-olds with bachelor’s degrees working full-time and year-round in 2000 was $32,101, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Taken together, the data suggest that people coming out of college are having to devote too much of their income to repaying higher education loans. Unmanageable student loan debt is defined by the loan industry as having monthly student loan payments exceeding 8 percent of a borrower’s monthly income.

“Too often debt burden becomes a ball and chain for student borrowers after graduation,” says Tracey King, the PIRGs’ higher education associate, in announcing the report findings.

Here’s what I found most interesting in the report:

During the past eight years, there has been a rapid increase in the percentage of wealthy students who borrow. The percentage of dependent students from families with incomes of $100,000 or more who took out loans quadrupled from 1992-93 to 1999-2000 (11 percent to 44 percent). The percentage of those student borrowers whose families had incomes between $80,000 and $99,999 more than doubled (24 percent to 58 percent) during the same time period.

Many middle- and upper-income parents complain that they make too much to qualify for grants or subsidized loans. Without such help, they protest, they can’t afford to pay college costs. Some students and their families really do need to borrow and affordable loans and grant money should be available.

But ask yourself: Does your child have to take on so much debt because you can’t afford to pay or because you failed to manage your finances?

I’m not addressing the families who face various financial crises or don’t earn enough to meet their basic needs. I’m talking about people with good incomes who choose not to save for their child’s college education.

And it is a choice.

After a home, the next most expensive purchase for many families is a car. The average cost of a new car is now $20,000. The average cost of a four-year public institution including tuition, fees, room and board was about $9,000 during the 2001-02 year, according to the College Board.

Don’t tell me you can’t afford to pay for college if you bought a new car instead of a used one, or if your credit cards are near the maximum limit.

And you can find educational bargains. More than 40 percent of students attending four-year schools pay less than $3,700 a year for tuition and fees. The annual tuition at two-year public institutions averages less than $2,000 or under $200 per month. How much money did you send off last month to pay your Visa or MasterCard bill?

Do you think I’m being a little tough? Good. Read the PIRG study at www. pirg .org/highered. Maybe it will be the wake-up call you need.