More students are having difficulty paying back their student loans and more are predicted to default in light of the recession, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

The department released its default percentages Tuesday, with Missouri’s numbers rising from 4.3 to 6.09 percent. About 76,000 Missouri residents are paying their loans on time, but another 4,600 are in default. The default rate is slightly below the national average of 6.7 percent.

Missouri Western State University officials are keeping an eye on the numbers and legislation being considered by Congress that will affect student loans.

Western, which has an open enrollment policy and serves a lower-income population than more selective schools, had a default rate of 8.8 percent in 2007, the most recent numbers available. Angie Beam, assistant director of financial aid at Western, said the school does what it can to keep its students from going into default, which can destroy credit ratings. First-time freshmen go through a financial literacy presentation in their freshman seminar course. Western staff also discuss student loan issues to high school students considering college.

During the previous recession, Western’s default rate was 5.3 percent, and went as low as 4.9 percent in 2005. Ms. Beam said job placement rates were better during that period.

“We have been working extremely hard,” Ms. Beam said. “But there is nothing you can do when there are no jobs to get.”

Ms. Beam said the recession is forcing students and parents of students to become cautious consumers. She said when the final enrollment numbers come in, she expects to see a boost in the number of students from surrounding counties who, in better economic times, might have considered a more expensive university farther from home.

“We talk about smart borrowing now,” Ms. Beam said of the financial literacy presentations, “Education is the key to your future. The loans are there if we have to rely on them, but we need to make that a last choice.”

Education costs and mounting debt can affect which field a student chooses. A student with a passion for education or social work might let the dream drift and go on to more lucrative fields if he or she must depend on a bulk of loans to pay for school. Ms. Beam has seen it happen.

But Delicia Shannon isn’t one of those students.

Ms. Shannon, a freshman education major at Western, wants to teach elementary school. She’s taken out two federal student loans to help get her there.

“I kind of had to,” she said. “I’m working on getting a scholarship so I don’t have to take out loans.”

The student loan debt average at Northwest Missouri State University is $15,000 in federal loans and another $3,000 in private loans. However, with a 3.5 percent default rate, students there are falling well below the state and national average. Del Morley, director of financial aid at Northwest, credits a positive job placement rate.

“We hound them pretty good to do exit counseling,” Mr. Morley said of graduating students going out into the work world, which includes repayment schedules.

Jimmy Myers can be reached at jimmym@npgco.com