Helping students pay for higher education is big business in this country, but Pennsylvania takes the issue of student debt to new heights — or new depths, depending on your prespective.

That is to say, the state ranks dead last in the nation when it comes to how much debt — an average of $36,193 — college students in Pennsylvania accrue while pursuing their degrees.

The analysis comes from Lendedu, a financial products and services company that also produces personal financial studies, and has been tracking student debt state-by-state for the last three years.

In the company’s recently-released report, they use student loan statistics from more than 1,000 4-year colleges and universities across the county — including some close to home.

Located in northern Butler County, Slippery Rock University was ranked 26 out of the 50 Pennsylvania schools that leave students with the lowest amount of debt.

If that doesn’t sound so bad — hey, we’re in the middle of the pack! — consider that some of the student debt load data flies in the face of what you might expect.

For example: Carnegie Mellon University, a private school in Pittsburgh that costs $50,665 per year in undergraduate tuition and fees, ranks better in terms of graduates’ student debt than SRU and many other state-owned or affiliated colleges and universities.

According to the report, 54 percent of CMU students graduate with some debt, and average debt load is $31,077.

Compare that with SRU’s statistics: average student debt load of $34,300, and 85 percent of graduates leaving the school with student debt.

CMU’s numbers are also better than Clarion University, several Penn State and University of Pittsburgh satellite campuses, and Pitt’s main campus.

That’s the narrow view: Pennsylvania is doing a terrible job of creating a college-educated workforce that isn’t weighed down by student debt.

The worse news: Pennsylvania’s problems are also the country’s problems. According to Lendedu, student loan debt nationwide now stands at $1.52 trillion — the second-largest form of consumer debt in America behind mortgages.

Still worse: according to Bloomberg, 30 percent of the 22 million Americans with student loan debt are in default or delinquent on payments.

Lendedu isn’t the only organization that’s tracking Pennsylvania’s dismal performance on higher education.

US News & World Report ranked the state 50th in the nation for higher education based on graduation rates, student debt and tuition costs.

The National Center for Education Statistics, using data from the 2015-16 school year, reported that Pennsylvania state colleges and universities are among the most expensive in the country for in-state residents.

And the Institute for College Access & Success, in its own report, echoed Lendedu’s findings that college students in Pennsylvania accrue more debt in loans than nearly every other state in the country.

The problem is also on the rise. According to the Lendedu report, student debt in Pennsylvania was up nearly 3 percent from the previous year.

It’s difficult to see how the state’s other struggles — a lackluster job market ranked 46th in the nation by the financial analysis firm WalletHub; and swiftly aging demographics — can be solved unless we confront a crisis that is surely pushing young people to build lives and careers elsewhere.