Antwan Williams, a senior at Roosevelt High School, fills out a college enrollment application at his school in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013. The schools was hosting a "sit-in" to get high school students who might not otherwise go to college to apply. (Photo: Susan Walsh, AP) Story Highlights That's up from the $26,600 debt held by 2011 graduates 
 
 Rising tuition, stagnant family incomes contribute to need to borrow 
 
 Students from Delaware graduated with the highest average debt 
 
 The average student debt load continues to rise as new data show the Class of 2012 graduated college with an average debt of close to $30,000. 
 
 The $29,400 last year's graduates hold in student loans is up from an average debt load of $26,600 held by 2011 graduates, according to an annual report from the Project on Student Debt at The Institute for College Access and Success. 
 
 While colleges are raising tuition, families' incomes are still suffering from the effects of the recession and remain flat — both factors are increasing students' need to borrow to attend school, says Debbie Cochrane, research director at The Institute for College Access and Success. 
 
 "Rising tuition and high tuition are certainly a contributor to increasing student debt, but it's far from the full picture," she says. "Family incomes and families' own ability to contribute to college costs has just been stagnant." 
 
 Sallie Mae's "How America Pays for College" study out earlier this year found parents' income and savings are covering 27% of college costs, compared with 37% in 2010. 
 
 "The post-recession reality is (parents) don't have the income and savings," Sarah Ducich, senior vice president of public policy at Sallie Mae, told USA TODAY in July. "It's not that they're not willing to stretch. It's that they don't think they have the money to do that." 
 
 Plus, many graduates are still having difficulty finding jobs that pay enough to cover student loan payments, Cochrane says. 
 
 "The down economy has really been a double-edged sword in many ways because (students) and their parents have fewer resources to pay for college costs, which may lead them to take on more debt," she says. "And then they're entering a down economy where it's hard to find a good job that allows them to repay the debt." 
 
 This year's Project on Student Debt numbers include data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, which comes out every four years. It gives a more comprehensive picture of student debt, because it includes debt loads for students who went to for-profit colleges, where more students often graduate with debt and graduate with higher debt, Cochrane says. 
 
 To provide individual state and college data, The Project on Student Debt also collects data from colleges that volunteer the information, and few for-profit colleges participate, Cochrane says. 
 
 Students from Delaware graduated with the most debt — an average of $33,649 — while students in South Dakota were the most likely to graduate with debt, at 78% of graduates, the data show. South Dakota's average debt is $25,121. 
 
 While most students take out federal loans, a fifth hold private loans, the data show. Private loans have been known to be more difficult for borrowers to manage and have less flexible repayment plans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's annual student loan ombudsman report out in October reported that students with private student loans in particular have difficulty enrolling in alternative repayment plans; private loan servicers also often allocate payments to maximize late fees and pay off low-interest loans first rather than costlier high-interest loans. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1cXGady ||||| Today’s graduating class will carry more debt than any other class in history. The average student loan debt at graduation rose from $18,550 in 2004 to $28,950 in 2014, a 56% increase, according to The Institute for College Access and Success. At the same time, the cost of tuition of a public four-year program at an in-state school rose 40% between 2005 to 2015 — less than the increase in loan debt. 
 
 According to the 10th annual “Student Debt and the Class of 2014,” published by The Institute for College Access and Success, the increase in student loan debts has varied considerably between states. Delaware’s average student loan debt increased by 129% in just 10 years, moving from seventh lowest in the nation in 2004 to the highest in 2014. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed all states to determine which had the highest amount of average student loan debt in 2014. Delaware had the highest average student loan debt at $33,808, while Utah had the lowest at $18,921. 
 
 While the national average student loan debt at graduation $28,950, the cost over the full term of the loan is much higher. Current federal loan interest rates range from 4.29% to 6.84%. At 5.0%, the $28,950 debt has a final cost, not including any fees, of $36,847 over a 10-year term — increasing the full cost by 27%. 
 
 Click here to see the states with the most student debt. 
 
 States with higher median household incomes tend to also have a higher average student loan debt. Of the 10 states with the highest average student loan debts, seven have median household incomes above the national average. Still, some states with similar student loan debts can have significantly different income levels, which can dramatically change how big the relative debt burden is. 
 
 Massachusetts and Alabama have nearly identical average student loan debts, at $29,391 and $29,425, respectively. However, the typical household in Massachusetts with a 25-44 year old head of household is $77,266 — $30,724 greater than the typical household in Alabama. So while the student loan debt is equal to 63% of the median yearly household income for in Alabama, it is only equal to 38% in of the income Massachusetts. 
 
 Using data from the report, “Student Debt and the Class of 2014” published by The Institute for College Access and Success, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed average student loan debt for new 2014 graduates in every state. TICAS also provided data on the average student loan debt in 2004. We also reviewed data on educational attainment and median household incomes from the U.S. Census Bureau. Median household income in all instances reflects households in which the head of household is a 25-44 years old. Interest rates Federal student loan interest rates are from Federal Student Aid, an Office of the U.S. Department of Education. North Dakota was excluded because there was not sufficient data available. 
 
 These are the states with the most and least student debt.
– The class of 2012 entered a tough jobs market buckling under an average debt load of $29,400, according to the annual report from the Institute for College Access and Success. That's up from an average $26,600 in 2011, and the rise can be blamed on rising tuition fees combined with stagnant family incomes. The struggling economy is a "double-edged sword in many ways because (students) and their parents have fewer resources to pay for college costs, which may lead them to take on more debt," the institute's research director tells USA Today. "And then they're entering a down economy where it's hard to find a good job that allows them to repay the debt." A recent study found that parents now cover an average 27% of college costs, down from 37% just three years ago. The institute's report, however, found huge variation in the debt loads from state to state and college to college, with graduates at some institutions carrying an average of $50,000 in debt while others had an average less than a tenth of that, the New York Times reports. Student debt tended to be highest in Eastern states, with Delaware grads the most indebted at an average of $34,000 each. New Mexico graduates had the lowest debt; an average of $18,000. But the class of 2012 isn't the most indebted graduating class in history: That dubious honor goes to the class of 2013.