PORTLAND, Ore. — New data from the U.S. Department of Education indicates that Oregon college students with degrees in health care fields will graduate with the heaviest student-debt loads.
The U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard examines, among other fields, the median loan debt of graduates by their field of study. In breaking down that data, the department further detailed how much average median debt loads graduates from Oregon colleges and universities collected according to their field of study and from where their degrees were conferred.
Among the state's top 30 highest student-debt loads, 21 are in the health care realm. Of those categories, four apply to behavioral health studies while three pertain to alternative medicine.
Slideshow: Degrees with the most debt
Law graduates from four schools also assumed higher median levels of debt, as did those majoring in architecture, business and the arts. The figures are based on what the department calls "median debt," or the "median federal loan debt of borrowers completing college."
Fields that generated lower amounts of median debt load in Oregon — between $6,334 and $9,250 — include cosmetology, dental support services and "medical assisting services."
American City Business Journals, the Portland Business Journal's parent, collected the Department of Education data, which analyzes median debt figures from 501 programs at 57 higher-ed institutions in Oregon. Overall, the data includes figures from 45,370 programs nationwide. The median debt figures were calculated in the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years.
Click through on the slideshow link above to learn which, among college and university programs for which the Department of Education could pinpoint the information, generate the highest media debt figures in Oregon.
