Saturday ETSU awarded 1,887 degrees to graduates. While graduates and their families are are celebrating graduations all across the Tri-Cities graduation is increasingly accompanied by challenges.

Mounting student loan debt and stagnant post graduate job market; those are just a couple obstacles some recent graduates will face.

"It’s too hard to find a job today and it’s too hard to create a job today," said U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander R-Tenn.

Senator Alexander was the speaker for ETSU’s 10:00 a.m. commencement ceremony Saturday.

"We need to take a look at over borrowing and let students only borrow for educational needs not for a new car and other things, and that they're able to pay it back once they graduate," said Alexander.

A new Gallup-Purdue University study of 30,000 graduates finds those with no student loan debt were seven times more likely to be happy than their peers with student debt.

But there is some good news, a recent career builders study finds with baby boomers retiring and the long term unemployed giving up their job search, the U.S. workforce is shrinking.

"The skilled graduates of this University and other University's will probably not have a hard time finding a job because from what I hear from companies coming from East Tennessee and this part of the state is they're looking for skilled people especially in manufacturing," said Senator Alexander.

The study also reveals that 57% of businesses said they plan to hire college graduates this year - that's up from 44% in 2010.

Graduate Kristen Crawford said she's seen that firsthand.

"I've had 3 different interviews with hospitals already and not even graduated yet with respiratory therapy. So I feel really excited and I think that they told me as soon as I graduated and got my CRT to call them."

With recent graduate employment on the rise, Senator Alexander says there are good days ahead for higher education in Tennessee.