We have commented previously about the problem of student loan debt. One web site says that 69% of graduates from public and nonprofit colleges in 2013 had an average student loan debt of $28,400 per student, which was two percent higher than 2012.

I read recently about a government-managed web site that allows comparing the costs of colleges and decided to check it out. I struggled a bit at first with getting to a comparison of Colorado State University with Colorado University, but I persisted and saw that CSU costs $15,303/year and CU $21,249. CU wins with a 69% graduation rate versus 63% for CSU. CU also wins with a $48,000 annual salary versus $44,300 annual salary (I’m assuming for graduates). I was disappointed that the same information came up when I entered a four-year Bachelor degree in Computer sciences instead of searching for any field of study.

The “Institute for College Access and Success” site is easier to use and has more information. The home page has a map that allows you to scroll to see average debt per state. For example, there are 56% of Colorado students who have debt averaging $24,520. Click on the state and it takes you to a listing of all of the universities. It reveals that the Colorado averages are skewed by the fact that there are slightly more than 4,000 cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy who have no debt because there is no tuition.