Study ranks Pa. worst state for higher education

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A new study puts Pennsylvania at the very bottom when it comes to attending college. 

U.S. News and World Report says the survey is based on a number of things, including college debt.

One thing the state of Pennsylvania has a lot of is good schools. But according to the U.S. News and World Report, Pennsylvania has too many schools that cost too much, leaving students with crushing levels of college loan debt.

A look around Oakland and it's easy to see that one of the first things the study shows is Pennsylvania is loaded with colleges, universities and other seats of higher learning.

According to the state Department of Education, the state itself has 300-plus colleges, universities and technical institutions. In Pittsburgh alone, there's Pitt, Carnegie Mellon and Carlow, as well as many others.

"From what I've seen personally, I don't believe the in-state tuition is incredibly expensive compared to other schools," said college student Joseph Stuter.

But according to the publication's findings, compared to the rest of the nation, Pennsylvania students pay more for college in the Keystone State than most others nationwide. Pennsylvania is 47th when it comes to college costs.

"I think education to begin with is not affordable for enough people but I feel like the opportunities you get it kinda justifies," said college student James Hill.

According to the report, when it comes to college loan debt, with more expensive schools comes higher education loans, putting Pennsylvania at 48th for low college loan debt. 

"It worries me a lot because that's something that's going to stick around for the vast majority of my life and the lives of other students," Hill said. 

Add it all up and taking all things into consideration, according to U.S. News and World Report, the state of Pennsylvania is the worst state in the nation for attending college.

So what can be done? Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed a more than $60 million increase in funding for higher education institutions to off set tuition costs.

If you are curious who's at the top of the list when it comes to getting a quality and inexpensive education and you are a resident of the state, Florida, Washington and California are the places to be.