State lawmakers aren't the only Illinois residents facing loads of debt. According to new research released this week by the Project on Student Debt, last year's crop of college graduates here in Illinois borrowed mightily before receiving their diplomas.

On average, local students in the 2008 class left school with $20,102 in student debt, up from $18,584 in 2007 (29 other states have higher averages). Furthermore, 58 percent of all graduates owed on their higher education.

Those numbers aren't expected to improve anytime soon. Higher ed, which has been historically underfunded in Illinois, received a very modest boost ($140 million) in state support when the legislature approved its stop-gap budget last summer. But the cash-strapped state is skimping out on payments to universities, forcing administrators to consider drastic cuts. Most of the boost was funded using federal stimulus aid, as well, which will run out after 2010. To fill their depleted budgets, universities will be left with few options but to jack up tuition and fees.

At the federal level, a student lending reform bill that would dramatically increase the Pell Grant program and create new programs to boost community college budgets, increase college completion rates, and improve early childhood education is stalled in the Senate. In fact, members of the upper chamber -- focused on health care reform and job creation -- have not even drafted a companion version of the package that cruised through the House in September.

To make matters worse, these recent grads now face a brutal job climate. In the third quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate for college graduates aged 20-24 jumped from 7.6 percent to 10.6 percent. To pay for essentials, undergraduates are turning to their plastic, with the average student carring $3,173 in credit card debt annually. It's a bit tricky to make your way and cover your costs when there's no paycheck coming in.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Lost in Scotland.