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Student loans climb: top 10 states with the highest college debt

Going to college or university isn't cheap, and with an average debt of $29,400, many graduates will be paying for their student loans long after graduation day. These states are home to the highest average student debts among loan-carrying, graduating seniors in 2012, according to The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS). Can you guess which state had the highest? 

7. Maine

Michael C. York/AP/File
Jeff McCooey of North Scituate, R.I, waves to friends and family after receiving his diploma from the College of Engineering at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine, Saturday, May 18, 2002, at the 200th commencement ceremony. By 2012, student debt at the university's Orono campus was an average of $32,438.

  • By John Hilliard Staff writer

Average debt: $29,352

Students with debt: 67 percent

Maine Maritime Academy, a public school that offers training for students to become licensed ship operators, reported the highest average debt in the state for graduating seniors -- $41,672 per student in 2012. It was more than $15,000 higher than at the University of Maine at Farmington, which had the second-highest debt among Maine public institutions.

Among the state's private schools,the New England School of Communications had the highest debt load, reported at $34,426.

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