Student Loan Debt Rises in Montana; Payday Loans to the Rescue?
By J.J. CameronPayday Loan Writer
Students with federal loans who graduated from Montana's public universities in 2005 left campus with an average debt of $20,179, up from $19,980 the previous year.
As financial trouble followes these students immediately upon graduating, many will turn to no faxing payday loans for assistance; a prospect that probably doesn't please many critics of the industry.
"The cost of education continues to go up," said Ron Muffick, director of business relations and programs for 
the Montana Guaranteed Student Loan Program in Helena.
But that's not all. Housing, fuel and home-heating costs are also on the rise, meaning parents aren't able to set aside as much for their children's college. They've been forced to look into the no credit check payday loan sector just to make ends meet themselves.
"A lot of families are strapped to the point that they can't save money to go to college," he said.
Muffick said student loans allow many to attend college who otherwise couldn't. The downside, he said, is "a lot of our grads are leaving the state because they can't make enough to pay their student loans and the high cost of housing."
The new Montana figures were released in response to a national report from Project Student Debt. Muffick said the Montana college-debt figures don't include private consumer loans, which are growing in popularity.
An increasing number of students are taking out such high-interest cash loans because they can't borrow enough under the limits of the federal loan system.
"Private loans have exploded in the last five to seven years," he said. "I find it troubling."
Despite the growing debt, Montana college graduates seem to be able to handle the payments. The default rate in 2004, the most recent year for which data was available, was 5.2 percent for Montana students, down from 6.7 percent the year before.
