Paying Back Student Loans in South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota

Student loans are becoming more and more of a reality for college students across America.

Recent estimates say a whopping 70 percent of undergrads at U.S. schools of higher education now need assistance to pay for a four-year degree.

The other increasingly common by-product of student loans is the suffocating debt that comes with them.

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But students in two local states are bucking the national trend and paying their loans back in a very timely fashion.

Recently, Broke Scholar looked to see which states were most proficient at paying back their loans.

For their story, The States of Student Loans, they zeroed in on eight key factors:

• The percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree
• The average debt per borrower
• The average delinquency rate of the state’s borrowers
• The median entry-level salary compared to the average college debt ratio
• The median mid-career salary compared to the average college debt ratio
• The cost of living by state
• The state's growth rate
• The state’s unemployment rate

Students in South Dakota and Minnesota are each in the Top Five.

According to the study, the Mount Rushmore State is second, while the North Star State is fourth overall.

The article credits taking on less debt in these two states as one of the keys.

South Dakota has 119,300 borrows with a state student debt balance of more than $3.7 billion. The state also benefits from a low unemployment rate.

Minnesota has 797,600 borrows with a state student debt balance of more than $27 billion.

1. Massachusetts
2. South Dakota
3. Colorado
4. Minnesota
5. Texas

Iowa didn't fare so well.

The Hawkeye State has 438.2 borrows and a state student debt balance of $13.4 billion,  which ranks the state 26th overall.