College graduates leaving school in debt

Caltabiano looks at a lab specimen with lab partner Mandee Selnick at UCLA. This laboratory is for his animal and environmental physiology class.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Natasha Sumabat walks on the UCLA campus, where she will graduate next month with a degree in physiological science. She has nearly $29,000 in student loans and wants to get a master’s degree in health administration.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Sumabat examines her graduation gown in her Westwood apartment. Moving back home to Artesia will ease some of the pressure on her to pay off loans and give her a chance to look for work in the healthcare field.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Ben Herrington-Gilmore is greeted by his mother, Leta Herrington, after her arrival from St. Paul, Minn. for his graduation Sunday from Occidental College. He has applied for about 20 jobs at law firms as a legal assistant or administrative aide. But so far, even though he already had two unpaid legal internships during school, he has no solid prospects. Meanwhile, his almost $27,000 in education loans will start to come due in the winter.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Christopher Best packs up his dorm room at Occidental College with his girlfriend, Katy Malone. He will be teaching math in Mississippi as part of Teach for America. Besides a sense of helping young people, he will get help in paying off $45,000 in loans.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Brianne O’Doherty cleans her partially empty bedroom in her Whittier apartment. A recent Whittier College graduate with a degree in marketing and visual communication, she secured a well-paying job in business development at a high-tech firm in Austin, Texas. She said she intends to live frugally so she can pay off her loan in chunks larger than required; her goal is to repay them in five years, half the usual time.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)