The cost of college tuition surged the highest in these states

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FILE - Rear view of two university students walk down campus stairs. Getty Images

College tuition has become even more costly over the years as tuition rates continue to rise, forcing more students into debt.

During the fourth quarter of 2023, student loan balances stood at $1.6 trillion, according to data from the New York Federal Reserve.

The Council on Foreign Relations noted student debt has more than doubled over the past two decades. The other issue is students are borrowing even more as costs to attend both public and private universities across the U.S. have grown.

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GOBankingRates looked into how much college costs have risen in each state. To do so it analyzed each state’s average college tuition costs for each school year starting with 2013-2014 through 2021-2022.

To find the school costs for the previous eight years, it relied on the National Center for Education Statistics’ Digest of Education Statistics.

GOBankingRates determined that the cost of tuition for private institutions surged more than $22,000 in Iowa, which marked the largest eight-year increase of all 50 states.

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The costs in Oregon, Rhode Island and Massachusetts all rose over $17,000. Vermont, which saw costs rise over $16,000, rounded out the top five states with the largest private college tuition increases.

For public universities, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Virginia and Alaska had the largest eight-year increases with costs rising over $6,000 in each respective state.