For many Americans who don’t live in big cities, a for-profit college near where they live may seem like a convenient higher education option compared with a public college many miles away. But that convenience comes at a price, according to a new report.

Students who enrolled at a nearby four-year, for-profit college on average take on $3,300 more in federal student loans than if they had gone to a comparable public college, according to new research published this month in the Journal of Financial Economics.

Students who chose to go to a two-year, for-profit college on average originate $6,000 more debt than if they had chosen a community college.

Aside from taking on more debt, enrollment at a four-year for-profit college increases the likelihood of default by 11 percentage points, which is nearly double the baseline default likelihood, according to the study.

The research used five publicly available resources, from Census information, data on colleges, loans, and employment, to tease out how students choose their college.

The researchers used data from time periods when the economy went south and workers’ job prospects dimmed to map out whether the prevalence of for-profit schools in their vicinity affected their decision to pursue higher education.

Transparency over debt outcomes isn't enough: author

To help students compare colleges before they enroll, the Education Department has been putting more information on the College Scorecard to help students factor in financial prospects when choosing a school.

The Scorecard is a government database that publishes data including how much debt a student is expected to take on, and how much in earnings they can expect on average, should they choose a specific school.

Yet "students just seem to be very poorly informed,” Michael Lovenheim, a co-author of the study and a professor at Cornell University, told Yahoo Finance.

“Part of it is on purpose on the part of for-profits ... they're giving them a sales pitch, and the students for the most part lack the background ... to make an informed choice,” he said. "Just information being available is insufficient – you have to help them understand what it means."