Sharne Hairston tries to study during her part-time job at the campus information desk, but she also spends time worrying about her growing student loans.

"Hopefully it doesn't take me 20 years to pay them off, but it depends on the job I get," said Hairston, 22. "My aunt is still paying her student loans, and she graduated the year after I was born."

The cost of college loan has loomed large for American families for generations, but steep tuition increases in recent years have ratcheted up anxiety among students and parents just as analysts insist Americans need more education to compete internationally.

The costs Hairston faces in the world's most expensive higher education system are typical. Year-round tuition for her criminal justice program is about $10,000, room and board is $4,800, and books—well, they're a luxury she can't afford.

"I try to borrow the ones I really need. Sometimes you can talk to a professor and they'll loan one," said Hairston, who estimates she'll graduate with about $40,000 in student debt.

A report released on Monday by the College Board showed the average cost of annual tuition at a public university was $6,185 in 2007-2008, a 6.6 percent jump from the year before. Add in room and board and the average cost surges to $13,589.

The cost of a private university is much higher, at $23,712 for tuition and $32,307 all included. Expenses at America's most prestigious colleges are higher still.

While education costs are hammering other developed nations, university fees in Canada, Australia, Asia and Europe are a fraction of those in America. In some countries, tuition fees have only recently been imposed.

With college costs a big worry for middle-class voters in the November 2008 presidential election, all three of the front-running Democratic candidates have promised reform. Last month, President George W. Bush signed a law to cut federal subsidies to student lenders and raise student grant funding.