Financial aid checks have many students breathing sighs of relief at the start of a semester. But the bills that start arriving after graduation are another story.

Students are getting into deeper debt each year to pay for college, and most don’t realize how much they’ll owe after they graduate, according to a report by the State Public Interest Research Group’s Higher Education Project.

Currently, students in college for five years can take up to $22,625 in federal loans.

The average borrowed by NIU students in a four-year period is about $12,000, said Kathleen Brunson, director of Student Financial Aid.

According to the state report, during the last decade, the amount of money spent by the government on student loans has grown from $15 billion in 1992-93 to $35 billion in 1999-00. These numbers are reflected in the increase in Stafford Loan debt of NIU students in the last decade.

The average Stafford Loan debt of NIU graduates with baccalaureate degrees for the class of 1990 was $7,381. That number swelled to $18,125 for the class of 1998.

The state report recommends that the maximum Pell Grant increase from $3,750 to $7,000 over a three-year period. This would mean financial aid that wouldn’t have to be repaid, and it would decrease the amount students would have to borrow through loans.

Brunson supports the idea.

“If that means reducing loans, by all means,” she said. “Whatever’s going to benefit the students. I’d rather see the students get more grant money.”

According to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, once a student drops below the required half-time attendance for financial aid — either by graduating, withdrawing or not taking enough credit hours — loans convert to repayment status.

Students often experience “sticker shock” after graduation when they find out their debt is far more than they expected, the research group report states. Often, students don’t understand the impact of interest on their debt.

To avoid “sticker shock,” Brunson suggests that students monitor how much they borrow every year.

“Look at it as a cumulative amount, not just as a semester and forget about that semester,” she said. “Keep a running tab going.”

She added that looking at each year’s promissory notes and adding the totals can give a close-to-accurate estimate of how much a person owes. But the best way to be sure is to contact the lender.

Credit-card temptation for students already in debt has Brunson concerned.

“It’s eye-catching, it’s appealing and what will the students be using those credit cards for?” she asked. “Financial aid is for the educational purpose. A lot of times we see this loan money and we don’t think about what’s going to happen on the back end.

“We think about, ‘I just got this whopping check for $3,000, so we go out and buy this CD, let’s go here, oh, yeah, let’s get the books and so forth,’ and then when it comes time to pay that money, look how much you’ve taken out,” she said.

Online calculators can help tabulate loan debt at Web sites like www.finaid.org/calculators. There, users can find a variety of information on student financial aid and scholarships, as well as ways to calculate debt and financial need. Personal information is required to use the calculator, but the site guarantees confidentiality.

Information about NIU Student Financial Aid can be found at www.fa.niu.edu., along with help for completing the Free Application for Student Financial Aid. Brochures and information on financial aid and loan repayment are available at the Student Financial Aid Office.