[2025-26 KD Data Journalist Internship: Project Results ①] “Analyzing the economic effects of college debt throughout California”

Authors: Ray Yoon(Project Leader), Jaden Shim, Aiden Chang, Woorin Paik

Introduction

For many people around the world, college affordability is a very important aspect in their lives. Unfortunately, it has become harder to pay for college over the years. Tuition and fees have increased over time and economic factors influence this change. In California, college affordability varies widely due to diverse economic factors, such as living costs, salaries, and local job markets. These economic differences affect the college debt students must take on through loans.

This study examines the differences in student debt among major metropolitan areas in California. Using datasets from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, Zillow Housing Data, Transparent California, and other sources, this analysis examines the effects of economic factors on college debt. Rather than simply comparing debt across cities, the analysis evaluates the effects of certain economic factors on these findings. By comparing these relationships across regions, the study aims to find out which factors influence college debt in these areas, so others can benefit from this analysis.

Housing costs

Many factors affect college debt throughout California. Our team wanted to see how college debt varies across cities and the economic factors in those cities that affect it. We created a linear regression graph comparing college debt across 10 of California’s most populous cities. This graph also compares median home values across the city, since our team expected living costs, as an economic factor, to affect college debt. College debt is divided into two categories: Parent PLUS and Stafford/Grad PLUS. Parent PLUS debt is a loan for the student that is paid by the parent, while Stafford/Grad PLUS debt is a loan for the student that must be paid by the student. The blue dot represents the Parent PLUS debt value while the orange dot directly below it represents Stafford/Grad PLUS debt.

According to this graph, home values in a city do not seem to affect the cost of college in that same city for Stafford/Grad PLUS debt. This is evident in the straight-line regression graph of these debt values. The line for Parent PLUS debt, though, has a slope that indicates that housing costs do affect debt values for parent debt. This means that the higher the housing costs in a city, the higher the college debt is in that city. This article states, “For students who have to pay tuition, additional housing expenses can lead to increased debt or require them to live further from school,” proving that living expenses correlate with a student’s college debt.

To determine why Parent PLUS Debt values differ widely across the graph, while Stafford/Grad PLUS Debt values remain consistent at $15,000-$20,000, we researched potential causes. According to this article, “There are effectively no underwriting criteria under the largest federal student loan program, Stafford Loans, as long as an applying student attends an eligible institution.” This shows that Stafford/Grad PLUS Debt values remain consistent despite housing costs and location because Parent debt differs across cities, whereas Parent PLUS loans depend on parents’ creditworthiness, whereas Stafford loans are more consistently available to students, making their borrowing levels more stable. Further research was conducted to explain why parents’ debt values differ significantly across cities. Using this website, our team researched the job market of these cities. All ten of these cities have technology and healthcare as their most popular job markets, although cities with higher parental debt also have green energy as their most popular job market. Seeing that these cities are incorporating more technology, with green energy as the most popular job market, parent debt seems higher in cities with more technology-intensive job markets.

Private or Public Colleges

An important factor that may affect a student’s college education is whether the college is public or private. Public colleges are funded by the state government, while private colleges are owned by organizations that are not part of the government. There are many differences between these two categories that influence the student’s debt, such as funding, tuition costs, and program offerings. When viewing the Student Stafford Debt, these values are consistent with around $20,000 across categories, which aligns with the last graph, because Parent PLUS loans require the parent to have good credit, making Stafford loans more available to students. This shows Student Stafford Debt is not affected whether the college is private or public.

This means that Student Stafford Debt does not provide us with much information to identify patterns here. When analyzing Parent PLUS Debt values, private non-profit colleges have a noticeably higher parent debt than public/private for-profit colleges. This is interesting because private for-profit colleges are expected to have higher tuition costs than non-profit colleges since for-profit colleges prioritize earning profit over education. This article shows that this is the case because private nonprofit colleges receive less government funding and tend to overinvest in campus and facilities, which forces the school to compensate with higher tuition costs.

Percentage of College Type

To expand on this subject, we wanted to determine whether the number of colleges in each category in a city affects college debt. Each city has three bars, each representing the percentage of colleges in that city that are Private For-Profit, Private Nonprofit, and Public. When comparing this graph with the previous ones, the cities with higher Parent Debt have a higher percentage of Private Nonprofit colleges. This supports our analysis of our previous graph because our last graph showed that Private nonprofit colleges had significantly higher college debt than Public and Private For-Profit colleges, so it would make sense that cities with a higher percentage of Private nonprofit schools would have higher college debt values.

Conclusion

Overall, our study shows that many factors shape college affordability in California. The issue of college affordability is complex, as a variety of economic factors are at play. On top of that, tuition and fees have become increasingly harder to pay in modern times. Our analysis not only compares Debt values but also explains why these findings arise. Therefore, with this analysis, we aim to provide more insight into individuals struggling with this growing problem. We hope that everyone can benefit from the college debt analysis.