Graduates: Here's Your Degree ... and Loan Debt

As graduation ceremonies begin around the country, college students will be handed not just degrees, but loan debt they have to start repaying. College admissions expert Catherine Marrs says The national total now exceed $1.3 trillion dollars.

In greater Houston, some students have proven to be thrifty -- but others struggle, according to new rankings.

WalletHub has ranked the “Cities With the Most and Least Student Debt.”

Six Houston area cities have the nation's lowest student debt loads: Lake Jackson, Nederland and Cleveland ... as well as Friendswood, Bay City and Dickenson.

But graduates in Humble are saddled with the sixth-highest college loan debt in the country, according to WalletHub’s Jill Gonzalez.

Marrs says controlling debt should start with students, not their parents.

Here are Houston stats from WalletHub on student debt:

--Median Student-Loan Balance: $18,102

--Median Earnings of Bachelor’s Degree Holders: $55,089

--Ratio of Student Debt to Median Earnings of Bachelor’s Degree Holders: 32.86% (29th Percentile).

Here are other findings:

--42% of students say credit card debt worries them more than student loan debt.

--63% of college students say their school is not doing enough to educate them about personal finance.

--1 in 3 college students think they’ll be worse off financially than their parents.

--1 in 4 students say excellent credit is worth more than a college degree.