Lana Douglas graduated in 2011 with a B.A. in Communications and Journalism from Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn. She spent her first two years of college earning online credits and taking classes at local schools, then transferred to Bryan her junior year with no debt. After two years of being a full-time student and working 25 to 40 hours a week at a Bi-Lo grocery store, Douglas left Bryan with close to $40,000 in debt.

"When I graduated college I knew I was going to have to find a good paying job right away," Douglas said. "I hate owing money, especially in this economy when you don't know if you can hold a steady job or make enough money for monthly loan payments."

The latest numbers on student loan debt and recent graduate unemployment from the Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) show that Douglas' post-college situation is the norm. According to the TICAS report released last Thursday, two-thirds students who graduated from non-profit schools in 2011 had student debt, averaging $26,600. And the burden of student debt is still growing - the 2011 number is five percent higher than the class of 2010.

Even as measures of national student debt have surpassed $1 trillion and college tuition continues to rise, the college degree is still the best bet for getting a job and decent pay, said Lauren Asher, TICAS president. College students who graduated last year faced an unemployment rate of 8.8, but they were still better off than those with only a high school degree, who suffered an unemployment rate of 19.1 percent.

"As debt levels rise, fear of loans can prevent students from getting the education they need to succeed," Asher said. "Students and parents need to know that, even at similar looking schools, debt levels can be wildly different."

Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market released figures last spring that showed 53.6 percent of bachelor's degree holders under age 25 were either unemployed or "underemployed." The latest TICAS report puts that number a little lower, citing studies that found more than one-third of recent graduates had jobs that did not require a degree, depressing wages. Other government figures put the "underemployment" rate for young college grads much lower - around 10 percent.

Since graduation, Douglas has spent about three-fourths of her income paying back student loans. She took a full-time, six-month paid internship at the Raleigh News & Observer and worked an additional 25 hours a week in customer service for Photojojo.com.

"After the internship I had a lot of experience that I knew put me in a good position to get a job in the journalism field," Douglas said. "But when I started looking through job sites, the basic starting rate was $20,000 to $25,000 a year, and with that, it would take me longer to pay back my student debt."

Douglas currently lives at home with her parents in Minnesota, working for photojojo.com, waitressing at Applebee's, and making about $36,000 a year. She's about six months and $15,000 away from being debt free.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.