(Fredericksburg.com) Patrick is making her student loan payments despite the brutal labor market.

The percentage of people who are at least 90 days late on their student loan payments is significantly higher than the percentage of people behind on their mortgage payments, though the latter has received far more media attention.

The student loan delinquency rate ranges from 5.8 percent to 14.5 percent for localities in the Fredericksburg area, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In each area locality, that rate is higher than the seriously delinquent mortgage rate, often two, three or even four times higher.

That higher delinquency rate is partly due to the fact that student loans are unsecured credit given to people with little income and no credit history, said Patricia Nash Christel, a spokeswoman for Sallie Mae, which is the country's largest student loan lender.

Christel said Sallie Mae helped 1.4 million customers resolve their past-due status in the 2008-09 academic year. The company offers online resources to help people estimate the cost of college and the income needed to repay various levels of debt. It offers financial counseling to students while they're still in school.

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