CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire isn’t just first in the nation when it comes to hosting presidential primaries. It also ranks first in student-loan debt, and now the winner of the state’s Republican presidential primary is seizing on that fact to argue that President Obama has let down students.
Coinciding with Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s visit last week to Keene State College, the Republican Party released a Web ad juxtaposing video of New Hampshire college students describing their staggering debt with what it characterized as Mr. Obama’s failed promises to deliver relief.
At least one of the students featured in the ad was not happy to learn that his comments were used to further an argument he rejects.
“Considering I am not a supporter of Mitt Romney, this is not exactly sitting well with me,” said Matt Raso, who just finished his sophomore year at Southern New Hampshire University. The 19-year-old from Warwick, R.I., expects to graduate with roughly $80,000 in debt and said he doesn’t hold Mr. Obama or the federal government responsible for any of it.
“They can’t really control too much of what each school does,” he said.
The ad was later removed after the television station that interviewed Mr. Raso objected to the use of its copyrighted material.
But Mr. Romney’s campaign stood by its assertion and plans to make the same argument in other battleground states, spokesman Ryan Williams said.
“We’re highlighting the fact that the president has not been able to help students deal with this crushing debt,” he said.
U.S. seniors who graduated with student loans in 2010 owed an average of $25,250, up 5 percent from the previous year, according to the Institute for College Access and Success, an education advocacy group that compiles data reported by colleges and universities. New Hampshire’s average was just above $31,000, the highest in the nation.
In neighboring Massachusetts, which now ranks 12th, the average debt carried by college graduates increased by nearly 25 percent when Mr. Romney was governor from 2004 to 2007.
And while the Romney campaign and the Republican Party have seized on New Hampshire’s ranking, “this is not a new issue,” said Pauline Abernathy, vice president of the education advocacy group.
Its annual rankings date to 2005, and New Hampshire has been in the top five each year for a variety of reasons, many of which have nothing to do with the president or the federal government.
One significant factor is the state’s mix of colleges and universities.
The percentage of New Hampshire students who attend private schools is higher than the national average, 40 percent compared to 29 percent nationally. Private schools generally are more expensive than public schools, and New Hampshire’s private schools also tend to be more expensive than the private schools in other states.
New Hampshire’s public colleges and universities also are more expensive than other state schools, which is illustrated by another ranking that likely contributes heavily to the state’s high debt level: New Hampshire is last in per capita state support for public higher education.
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