By: Jess Eden

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa — Data shows that out of all the Big Ten schools, Penn State students have acquired the most debt.

Penn State also is the most expensive school to attend in the Big Ten. Having the highest average annual cost of attendance.

In the U.S student debt has reached about 1.5 trillion dollars, with that number only continuing to grow each year.

Sarah Heffner, a sophomore from Reading, Pa takes loans out with the help of her mother.

“My mom co-signed my loan but like that’s it. I take out loans completely my parents cant afford to help and I don’t blame them. I have three other siblings who all want to go to college too, you cant expect them to pay for all of us that would be insane.” Said Heffner

Another Penn State Student, Charlie Sterling who is a senior from Havertown, Pa also takes out student loans already has hopes on how to avoid paying his accumulated debt.

“My ideal situation will be getting a job with loan forgiveness, but I can only imagine how hard those are to come by.” Said Sterling.

Many students fear the unknown when it comes to the amount they have borrowed throughout the years.

Devon Greene a senior from Pittsburgh Pa, studying Bio behavioral Health has no idea how much she owes once graduation day comes.

“At this point I am unsure how much debt I am in. My parents fill most of those things out and I just sign agreeing to everything, so I could be anywhere from 70-90 thousand dollars in debt. Or it could be lower. I should know this but knowing will only stress me out more I think.” Said Greene

In addition to the traditional plan of a 4-year degree, some students will have to do more schooling than anticipated.

“I plan on going to an accelerated nursing school after this, so again I will have to take a loan out pay for that as well. So at this rate I will most likely die before my loans are paid off.” Said Greene.

How is Penn State helping their students, students who have signed up for thousands of dollars of debt to attend their University?

One of the recourses Penn State offers students to aid them in their financial planning is the Sokolov-Miller Family Financial and Life Skill center.

Daad Adel Rizk is the Director of the center, which offers 5 distinct services to students. They range from one-on-one counseling sessions and mentoring programs to webinars and self-studying modules.

“We make it a rule not to generalize because each case is different. But, we try to get to students before they find themselves in struggling situations with debt. Our approach to help students is: Create a budget and stick to it. Understand the full cost of education from enrollment to graduation, borrow sensibly and keep track of the borrowing capacity to be able to repay the debt after graduation. Make an academic and a financial plan to graduate on time with the least amount of debt possible, and get all the financial literacy knowledge to help you through life not just during college.” Said Rizk.

Since 2013 the center has helped 15,375 students