[rsfern]

I don't know. The debt level is relative to the national average, and it ranges from -100% (zero loans) to over 700%. It's not like they fabricated many 'high' levels, the distribution just has a long tail.

I think a diverging color map displaying continuous values would be more appropriate, but I'm hesitant to label it 'lying with statistics'.

[ethbro]

It does correspond with the realities of college. Remember, you're hypothetically borrowing against future earning and, for all the griping about college expense, there are a large number of fields where debt is extremely high but future earnings are also.

I'd be interested to see this broken down by major.