Pennsylvania has been ranked in two recent studies among the states with the highest amounts of college student debt. At the same time, it came in 47th among states for per capita funding for higher education.

This does not paint a pretty picture for students seeking further education after high school who are unable to obtain scholarships or pay for it themselves.

A recent student debt ranking from online financial advice and credit report provider WalletHub ranked Pennsylvania second in the nation for student debt behind South Dakota.

A study released in May by Peterson’s College Data found that Pennsylvania students who graduated in 2016 had the highest debt in the nation, and that the following year debt increased by 2.7 percent.

Last year, a report by the Keystone Research Center, a public policy organization, noted that the state came in 47th for higher education funding — which Slippery Rock University President William J. Behre said was directly linked to the state’s high student debt rate.

“If you are not funding higher education adequately at the state level — at least in the state system, that is what I can speak to — students will have higher debt,” Behre said in an Eagle story published Sunday.

In the mid-1990s, the state covered approximately 50 percent of State System of Higher Education school budgets, but current funding levels — between 25 and 27 percent of budgets — are among the lowest in the country, Behre said.

Tuition factors into student debt, and Behre noted that the State System has only frozen tuition twice in its 36-year history.

The WalletHub study ranked Pennsylvania in the middle among states for students being past due or defaulting in student loans.

Thankfully, the presidents of Butler County’s colleges also said that the situation doesn’t negatively affect too many of their students.

Slippery Rock has a 5-percent loan deficit rate, which is below the national 11 percent average, said Behre, who added the school’s students are paying off debt, and that “by and large, our students aren’t defaulting.”

According to President Nick Neupauer, Butler County Community College also has managed to avoid the cataclysmic scenario many other students in the state face.

He noted that 75 percent of the school’s students graduate debt free, which is a result of low tuition, scholarships, fundraising and a closely watched budget. This is great news for Butler County and students who intend to attend school here. For much of the rest of the state, not so much.

For students to adequately compete in the modern world, education is key. Not everyone seeks further education after high school, but many careers require it. It’s imperative that schools follow BC’s example by running, as Neupauer puts it, a “tight ship” that lacks “administrative bloat.” But lawmakers should also prioritize public funding for higher education — something that the presidents of Butler County’s colleges said they have not been doing.