LANSING — Meghan Schulz pays her student debt with the help of pawn shops and consignment stores.

The 23-year-old graduated from Western Michigan University in June of 2018 with a degree in advertising and promotion. She has a $300 monthly loan payment. She's already fallen behind twice.

Selling clothes and electronics brings in a few bucks here and there.

Schulz works in Grand Rapids as a junior account executive at Townsquare Media, a radio network and media company. The job doesn’t always pay enough to cover her living expenses or the loan bill that is automatically withdrawn from her bank account near the end of each month.

Show caption Hide caption Meghan Schulz, shown posing with her degree at Western Michigan University, graduated in June of 2018 with about $27,000 in student loan debt. She works... Meghan Schulz, shown posing with her degree at Western Michigan University, graduated in June of 2018 with about $27,000 in student loan debt. She works in Grand Rapids and sells clothing and electronics to help cover her expenses. Courtesy of Meghan Schulz

“Sometimes it’s very deceiving,” Schulz said. “When you see that money in your account, you think you can go out and have a drink with a friend. But then you remember that it’s coming out.”

Her debt at graduation was about $27,000, which might sound like a lot. It's actually below average.

Among students who left WMU at the same time — the 73% of them who took out loans, at least — the average debt was $33,864. For public university graduates across the state, it was $31,791.

Student debt ballooned after the Great Recession and, though the growth has slowed, the numbers have continued to rise. The average debt load for Michigan public university graduates rose by more than $10,000 between 2007-08 and 2017-18. Even after adjusting for inflation, it's a 24% increase.

But debt doesn't look the same at every school. At the University of Michigan, the average debt has fallen by 9% over the past decade after adjusting for inflation. It dropped by 3% at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. At Michigan State University, it's gone up by 56%, at WMU by 53%.

Rising debt means many graduates face tough choices on how they spend their money, factoring loan payments into where they live, what kinds of jobs they take, even putting food on the table, said Lindsay Ahlman, senior policy analyst at The Institute for College Access and Success.

And it means they carry emotional and financial stress with them into careers.

“Having any amount of debt hanging over someone’s head can be a real psychological burden,” she said.

But what would have been considered staggering debt a generation ago has become essentially normal.

MSU blames shrinking state support for the largest increase in average student debt

Most of the undergraduates who earned degrees from Michigan State in 2008 left without any debt at all. The 41% who had debt owed an average of $17,347.

By 2018, more undergraduates were borrowing — about half — and they left owing significantly more: $31,736.

It was the largest increase in average student debt of any public university in Michigan.

Rick Shipman, executive director for the MSU office of financial aid, blames it on shrinking state support and resulting surges in tuition.

"We did have a few years when the state was really stingy on the allocations, so we ended up doing a larger than expected tuition increase," Shipman said. "That would lead to additional borrowing."

MSU's state appropriation was $290 million in 2007-08. It dipped as low as $241.1 million in 2011-12, before rebounding to $286.2 million in 2018-19.

Tuition increases that outpaced those at other schools in the state helped fill the void. Annual tuition and fees at MSU increased by $4,770 over a decade.

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Which is why Celeste Dufour arrived on campus with a plan to save money: graduate in three years.

MSU student Celeste Dufour from Waterford, talks about how she plans to graduate a year early Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. Robert Killips | Lansing State Journal

Dufour, a 19-year-old second-year student, earned 20 transfer credits in high school, in part because she was concerned about the debt that could await her.

She saves money by working through her summers and at a job in the MSU Herbarium during the school year. She will apply those savings toward paying off her student loan debt and saving for her future educational endeavors.

“It concerns me,” she said. “But grad school is on my mind, that’s where my concern is.”

Like Dufour, Alpha Sow worked two jobs through his time at MSU to keep his debt low.

He's now paying off $35,000 in loans and still working two jobs: one as a program assistant at the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine and one at Dunham's Sports.

"I've done it throughout college because I didn’t want to get into so many student loans," said Sow, 25, who graduated in 2018 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. "I don’t like it but I’m used to it now."

Students pay more out of their pocket to make up for a decrease in state funding

6 financial tips for college students to help reduce debt Anthony Krolak, assistant director of MSU's Office of Financial Aid, offers students tips on reducing student loans or keeping debt burden low. Nick King, Lansing State Journal

The decline in state support wasn't confined to MSU.

Per-student appropriations from the state for public universities are down approximately $6,000 from 2002, said David Waymire, a partner at the public relations firm Martin Waymire and a spokesperson for the Michigan Association of State Universities.

That means students earning a four-year degree are paying $24,000 more out of their pocket, he said.

The math isn't quite that clean. Universities have cut costs in the intervening years, ramped up their efforts to attract out-of-state and international students who pay higher tuition, and, in a few cases, increased enrollments.

But state appropriations for public universities did fall from a total of more than $1.6 billion in 2001-02 to less than $1.5 billion last year, a decrease of more than 35% after adjusting for inflation.

"If we had increased state support at just the rate of inflation and if universities had just lived within that budget, then there would be almost no need for the average student to take out a student loan for tuition," Waymire said.

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Officials from several university financial aid offices said they work with students in different ways to help reduce the amount of debt they have to take out. Those efforts include educating students on financial literacy and making sure students and parents are aware of all options for paying for college and understand the implications of the debt they're taking on.

But it's an individual solution to a largely structural issue, and it only goes so far.

Free tuition for less fortunate students helped reduce U-M's student debt

The University of Michigan charges the second-highest tuition rate among public universities in the state, but its students left with some of the lowest debt last year at an average of $27,224.

That's in part because the school has a wealthier student body than other Michigan public universities. According to a 2017 study that provided a rare comprehensive look at the economic makeup of the student bodies at U.S. universities, more than 9% of the students at U-M in around 2013 came from families in the top 1% of the income scale. Nearly two-thirds of its students leave without any debt at all.

Irregular hours, layoffs and fluctuating incomes can influence one's ability to repay student loan debt. Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press

But free tuition for students from poorer families is part of the reason average student debt there has fallen after adjusting for inflation.

The Go Blue Guarantee, announced in the summer of 2017, offers four years of free tuition for undergraduate students whose family income falls at or below $65,000. The same program offers tuition support for students from families with incomes of up to $180,000.

Lauren Schandevel was one of its beneficiaries. The 23-year-old grew up in Warren. She was in the first generation of her family to enroll at a four-year university, paying for her education with a job, grants and loans. She graduated in May with $9,000 in debt and now works for We the People Michigan, an organization that works to build working class, multi-racial alliances across the state.

She is also one of the authors of "Being Not-Rich at UM," an online publication filled with tips for navigating the campus and higher education for students who may not be as wealthy as some of their colleagues.

Griffin St. Onge, right, and Lauren Schandevel pose for a photo at Angel Hall on the U-M Ann Arbor campus on Wednesday April 19, 2018. They wrote the online publication, "Being Not-Rich at UM." Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

The best tip Schandevel can offer to "not-rich" students on the Ann Arbor campus is to find spaces where they can meet other students in similar financial positions, have a social life and join clubs.

People don't talk about being poorer than the rich students because they are ashamed, she said, and that needs to change.

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As for managing their loan debt, there isn't much Schandevel can recommend.

"The only advice I have is for lawmakers to reevaluate how we have students pay for their education," she said.

"No matter how much you save at the grocery store or don't go to the coffee shop," she added, you're still going to be saddled with thousands in debt.

Financial aid staff preach “smart borrowing” to U-M students, stressing financially savvy choices and taking out loans only when absolutely necessary through literature and even a 16-week course students can take to learn how to become financially savvy, said Krissy Bhaumik, associate director for financial literacy and the advising and eligibility unit.

"(Student debt) is not more taxing than other consumer choices if you’ve started the process and borrowed only what was necessary and were aware of what you were doing from the beginning,” she said.

But U-M can also do more to help than many other schools. The university gave its students more than $227 million in institutional aid in 2017-18, according to data compiled by the Institute for College Access and Success. MSU gave nearly $149 million. Wayne State University, the next highest, gave less than $50 million.

This pharmacy tech dropped out of college after facing personal and financial issues

Benito Flores still dreams of becoming a high school English teacher, of leaving a lasting impact on students like his teachers left on him.

He's working two jobs instead, one at a pharmacy, one at a bank.

Flores is trying to pay off a little more than $10,000 in student loan debt and without a college degree to show for it.

Show caption Hide caption Benito Flores, 25, works on unpacking boxes for another employee while working a shift on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019, at the Rite Aid in East... Benito Flores, 25, works on unpacking boxes for another employee while working a shift on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019, at the Rite Aid in East Lansing. Flores is working two jobs to help out with his $10,000 in student debt. Nick King/Lansing State Journal

It’s not that he didn’t try.

Flores, now 25 and living in Lansing, went to Lansing Community College and then transferred to MSU. Personal issues and struggles to afford living on his own forced him to drop out.

“I had never felt disappointment like that,” Flores said. “That was pretty much the downfall — go to work or go to school.”

He's behind on his $120 monthly student loan payments. He doesn’t have much money to buy things like new shoes and clothes.

Flores wishes he had sought an associate degree and maybe found a job in the skilled trades before pursuing the MSU degree. He didn't foresee the economic struggles that would await him.

“When you’re coming in blind and letting it all hit you, it’s hard to get back on your feet,” Flores said.

Susan Dynarski, professor of education public policy at U-M, said it’s students like Flores who are most affected by student debt.

When students drop out, they're typically leaving college without a degree or credential that will allow them to get higher-paying jobs. Because they don’t earn higher salaries, even the smallest amounts of debt can become unmanageable, she said, noting that the average default is on debt levels less than $10,000.

“When you’re weighing what’s worse — student debt or dropping out — if you drop out you don’t have the capacity to pay the debt that you have,” Dynarski said, “versus finishing your degree and improving your labor market outcome and ability to pay your debt.”

Show caption Hide caption Benito Flores, 25, works on unpacking boxes for another employee while working a shift on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019, at the Rite Aid in East... Benito Flores, 25, works on unpacking boxes for another employee while working a shift on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019, at the Rite Aid in East Lansing. Flores is working two jobs to help out with his $10,000 in student debt. Nick King/Lansing State Journal

To put that another way, high debt isn't always a problem. Doctors, lawyers and engineers often take on significant debt, and they often earn enough to pay it off comfortably. The less a graduate's earning potential aligns with what they have to pay, the bigger a problem it is.

Serena Lake and her husband have more than $100,000 in student loan debt from Lake Superior State University and Lansing Community College.

She isn't too concerned about the payments.

Lake landed her dream job as a fisheries research technician on the Great Lakes with the Little Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. Her husband works as a banker.

The good news about her debt "is we both have really good jobs and we can afford it," she said. "But we're just affording."

This student paid off her debt after moving back home and working remotely

Sophia Walker went to community college before transferring to Ferris State University, knowing she would save money in the end.

Show caption Hide caption Sophia Walker went to community college before transferring to Ferris State University, knowing she would save money in the end. She earned her business degree in 2014... Sophia Walker went to community college before transferring to Ferris State University, knowing she would save money in the end. She earned her business degree in 2014 and immediately got to work as a consultant for a technology company, earning income that enabled her to pay off her $27,000 in student debt two years after graduating. Photo courtesy of Sophia Walker

And she did. Walker paid out-of-pocket for classes at Oakland Community College and Kirtland Community College after high school. Then she transferred to Ferris, using a loan to cover her education expenses and a job for living expenses.

She earned her degree in business in 2014, graduating with $27,000 in student debt.

Walker paid it off within two years, partly because she found a job as a consultant for a technology company that allowed her to work remotely, partly because she moved back home to Higgins Lake, where she knew the cost of living was affordable.

Ferris had the highest average debt of any public university in Michigan in 2017-18: $36,530, and 76% of its graduates left with debt that year.

Walker said she's the only person in her group of friends with all her student debt paid off.

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“Choosing to attend community college was a tough decision for me at 17 when the vast majority of my friends were heading off to four-year institutions for the traditional college experience,” she said. “My student debt obligation would have been three to four times higher had I elected to attend the same public university right out of high school.

“While I took the less glamorous route, I believe that decision changed the trajectory of my life."

Battling college debt more important than ever, U-M professor says

Many of the people who are repaying debt now returned to college during the Great Recession.

It was an opportunity to sharpen or learn new skills, Dynarski said, and students received grants and tax credits to help cover the costs.

They also used loans to cover the difference, leading to a spike in defaults and mountains of debt, she said.

And some economists believe another recession is coming.

Dynarski said the looming threat makes changing the way we deal with college costs even more crucial.

Implementing a universal income-based repayment plan for student loan debt could be a step forward, she said.

Legislators have discussed proposals that would automatically put borrowers on an income-based repayment plan once they fall behind on their payments.

Many of those who need access to such a plan are not accessing them because they are least likely to make it through the paperwork process, Dynarski said.

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To be eligible for those payments now, borrowers must fill out reams of paperwork and qualify with their loan servicer, the IRS and repeat that process annually, she said.

"Research has shown that population we need to get into income-based repayments don’t get in, because it’s a difficult process," Dynarski said.

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Ahlman said a bump to the Pell Grant would be another place to start. The grants go to needy students, but the maximum award amount currently only covers 28% of the average cost of attendance at a four-year public college in the U.S., she said.

The $1.6 trillion in student loan debt nationally is the highest it's ever been.

And what happened after the 2008 recession “is cued up to repeat itself,” Dynarski said.

“If anything it’s worse.”

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Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.