Tales of students and recent graduates with high loan debts have enlivened the national discussion of college affordability. A new report on a survey of such borrowers—13,000 of them, with an average student-loan debt of $75,000—argues that confusion and a lack of guidance on making sound decisions are partly to blame for their heavy burdens.

“High-debt borrowers often do not have a clear idea about the consequences of the loans they take out, with many experiencing misunderstanding or surprise regarding repayment terms and interest rates,” says the report, by the firm NERA Economic Consulting and the youth advocacy group Young Invincibles.

The partners surveyed members of the e-mail lists of that group and another, Student Debt Crisis. Among the respondents, 42.2 percent were enrolled in an undergraduate program or had finished one in the past five years, and 57.8 percent were…

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