By ANDREW MARTIN and ANDREW W. LEHREN

student debt
Photographs by Ruth Fremson/The New York Times and Ty William Wright for The New York Times Taking on debt has become a central part of the college experience for many students.
ADA, Ohio — Kelsey Griffith graduates on Sunday from Ohio Northern University. To start paying off her $120,000 in student debt, she is already working two restaurant jobs and will soon give up her apartment here to live with her parents. Her mother, who co-signed on the loans, is taking out a life insurance policy on her daughter.

“If anything ever happened, God forbid, that is my debt also,” said Ms. Griffith’s mother, Marlene Griffith.

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