Student loan debt outpaced credit card debt for the first time last year, and is likely to top a trillion dollars this year as more students go to college and a growing share borrow money to do so, The New York Times reported.

Many economists say student debt should be seen in a more favorable light, but the rising loan bills mean that many graduates will be paying them for a long time.

“In the coming years, a lot of people will still be paying off their student loans when it’s time for their kids to go to college,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org and Fastweb.com, which compiled the estimates of student debt, including federal and private loans.

Two-thirds of bachelor’s degree recipients graduated with debt in 2008, compared with less than half in 1993. Last year, graduates who took out loans left college with an average of $24,000 in debts.

A couple of programs recently have launched in Iowa to combat the problem, as Iowa students graduate with an average of $28,833 in education-related debt, according to The Institute for College Access and Success. An interactive program geared toward high school students was started in February by the Iowa College Student Aid Commission. Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corp. began a program last month to show students who are applying for loans how much debt they can expect to incur and what their debt-to-income ratio will be as part of the application process for a loan through the program.