When building our graphs, we found the top 10 Arkansas colleges with first-generation debt, the colleges that exceed the state average and the debt by school type. Our two maps show that Hendrix College has the highest amount of debt owed at $20,625. The difference between the leading school and number 10 school is $6,553. When building our final graph, we found the most affordable option is to attend a private non-profit school. We took into consideration when labeling our maps. For example, the top 10 colleges always have their names shown and dollar amounts can be found by hovering over the colored areas. The color legend is important to the map to show the darker colors relate to schools with higher debt amounts.
Arkansas first-generation debt by school types show that private for-profit colleges have a higher number of debt owed. This graph shows three types of colleges: public, private not-for-profit and private for-profit. This data shows private for-profit colleges to have the highest amount of debt with $257,749. Private not-for-profit colleges had a total of $207,586. The difference between the most expensive option and the most affordable option is $50,163. There are direct comparisons from this graph that are shown in the maps. Institutions such as Bryan University, Vista College, and a couple of the cosmetology schools were institutions that exceeded Arkansas’s average debt amount.