Good news / bad news related to the Higher Education Bubble crisis. Debt is growing, but delinquencies down a bit.

Contributor Phil Izzo of The Wall Street Journal files this report:

While student-loan debt continues to grow, delinquency rates dropped a bit in the first quarter, according to new data from the New York Fed.

Total student loan balances rose $20 billion to $986 billion. But the percentage of student loans more than 90 days delinquent dropped to 11.2% from 11.7% at the end of last year.

Midwest states including North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa have some of the highest percentages of consumers with student loans, but the lowest delinquencies. States in the South, such as Florida, West Virginia and South Carolina, have a smaller share of people with student loans but more borrowers late with their payments.