Study after study shows that college students are terrible at keeping track of how much debt they are racking up in school, so states are working to make the cost of higher education crystal clear — and there are signs the moves are slowing runaway borrowing, the Wall Street Journal reported today. This month, Florida joined Indiana and Nebraska in requiring that colleges and universities provide detailed information about student debt and projected loan payments. Under a law that went into effect July 1, Florida’s institutions of higher education will now have to provide students a yearly report detailing how much they’ve borrowed so far, their expected loan total and estimated monthly payment. Federal Reserve data show that Americans had almost $1.44 trillion in student loans outstanding at the end of the first quarter this year, up by nearly $100 million in the past year. Other initiatives to better inform students about the financial implications of borrowing to attend college have shown early promise. Indiana University in 2012 began sending students annual letters estimating their total loan debt and future monthly payments, leading to a 23 percent drop in federal borrowing by students between the 2011-12 and 2015-16 academic years. A federal reserve study in 2015 found similar results at Montana State University.
