A May 2015 Wall Street Journal article indicated that 2015 college graduates had the highest average student debt ever, at slightly more than $35,000 per student.

The following data show the average student debt for the years 1993 through 2015 (source: Jeffrey Sparshott, “Congratulations, class of 2015. You’re the most indebted ever (for now),” http://blogs.wsj.com, May 8, 2015).

Year Average Student Loan Debt

(Rounded to nearest $000)

1993 $10,000 1994 $11,000 1995 $12,000 1996 $13,000 1997 $14,000 1998 $15,000 1999 $16,000 2000 $17,000 2001 $17,000 2002 $17,000 2003 $18,000 2004 $18,000 2005 $20,000 2006 $21,000 2007 $22,000 2008 $24,000 2009 $25,000 2010 $26,000 2011 $28,000 2012 $30,000 2013 $31,000 2014 $33,000 2015 $35,000

a. Produce a time-series plot of these data. Indicate the time-series components that exist in the data.

b. Conduct a test of hypothesis to determine if there is a linear trend in these data. Use a significance level of 0.10 and the p-value approach.

c. Use the model developed in part b to provide a forecast for the average student debt in 2017.