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There are a variety of metrics that go into a given college's stat sheet: cost, size, student satisfaction, and on down the line.

But two of the key indicators about how successful a student's experience at school will be--graduation rate and debt burden upon earning a degree--are typically presented as separate figures. Analysts at Education Sector, a Washington think tank, have combed through newly available data from the Department of Education and paired the two metrics in what they call the "borrowing-to-credential ratio." The resulting figure comes from the total amount of money a school's undergraduates borrowed divided by number of degrees awarded, a formula that offers a new way of evaluating the effectiveness of an institution.

The Education Sector analysts begin with a basic premise. "The American higher education system is plagued by two chronic problems: dropouts and debt," write Kevin Carey, the group's policy director, and Erin Dillon, Education Sector's senior policy analyst.

The authors note that nearly half of the students who begin college do not earn a degree within six years, while student loan debt is soaring, having recently eclipsed credit card debt when measured in aggregate.

Rising costs, higher borrowing rates

On the debt side, much of the trouble owes to rising tuition prices. In the 1990s, the overall cost of a college education increased 3.1 percent ahead of the rate of inflation, Education Sector reports. The next decade, the price tag of tuition and other costs rose 3.8 percent over inflation.

"The recent economic downturn made things worse, as cash-starved states cut public university budgets, and universities responded by jacking up tuition," Carey and Dillon write. "At the same time, unemployment rose and family income fell, forcing more students and parents to borrow in order to pay fast-rising tuition bills."

As a result, the borrowing-to-credential ratio has spiked dramatically in recent years. In the 2006-2007 academic year, students borrowed, on average, $13,334 for every credential awarded. That figure jumped 9 percent to $14,560 the following year, and another 24 percent to $18,012 in the 2008-2009 academic year, the most recent period for which data are available.

"The national borrowing to credential ratio is moving in a troubling direction. It is taking more and more debt to produce a degree," the authors write.

Elites, for-profits and state policies

Among schools generally considered elite colleges and universities, Education Sector reported wide swings in the debt burden with which low- and middle-income students are graduating. Much of that owes to the varying financial aid policies across those schools. Princeton University, with a $14.4 billion endowment, does not include loans in the financial aid it extends to students who can't afford tuition. So despite its hefty price tag, the school's borrowing-to-credential ratio is just $2,385. Education Sector identified 19 elite schools that have some form of this "debt pledge," which together have a substantially lower ratio than those that do not. In the elite category, New York University has the highest borrowing-to-credential ratio at $25,886. The comparative wealth of the students at elite schools is also a factor in their relative debt-to-borrowing ratios.

The Education Sector analysis also identified certain segments of the higher education landscape whose students have disproportionate levels of debt, including for-profit universities. To a limited degree, the federal government has prevailed on the for-profit sector to address concerns about students graduating with heavy loan debt and dubious job prospects. Earlier this year, the Department of Education finalized the so-called "gainful employment" regulations that threaten to withhold federal tuition assistance for schools that fail to meet baseline success rates for their alumni as they enter the workplace.

State policies can be a driving factor in the borrowing-to-credential ratio, as Education Sector notes that public university systems from state to state vary widely in their outcomes, despite being organized under a nominally similar structure. As an example, the authors compared Iowa State University and Florida State University, which in many statistical categories bear a striking resemblance. Both were founded around the same time, and students at both schools average similar ACT scores, Pell Grant awards and graduation rates. Tuition at Iowa State is only $165 more. But the Education Sector analysts calculated the borrowing-to-credential ratio at Iowa State to be $20,237 per degree earned, compared to $10,888 at Florida State.

"The difference is state policy. All states subsidize higher education, but some are more generous than others," they concluded.

The states with the highest borrowing-to-credential ratios per Education Sector's analysis were Vermont with $25,461 per degree, New Hampshire ($21,060) and Pennsylvania ($20,922). The states with the most favorable borrowing-to-credential ratios were California, with $6,008 per degree earned, Florida ($6,636) and Utah ($7,175).

Among the contributing factors to those disparities are the relative amount of funding that states contribute to their public schools, how their financial aid programs are structured and the extent to which they favor their flagship university over other state schools.

For related news and other information from Schools.com, see:

• Harkin calls gainful employment rules a 'modest first step'
• Forbes ranks top 650 colleges and universities
• Princeton Review: top 10 colleges for financial assistance
• More money for school: 5 tips for appealing your financial aid award