by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend CALC Institute of Technology: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at CALC, 100% of first-year students take on loan debt, at roughly $5,500 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,500, or about 100.0% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at CALC, 74% borrow through federal student loan programs, borrowing on average $7,127 in federal loans per year. This is 29.6% above the $5,500 typical freshmen borrow.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $14,254 over two years and about $28,508 over a four-year span. The estimate holds federal borrowing constant and does not count private or Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 74% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,127 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 85 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $605,761 |
The median student at CALC borrows $9,354 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,354 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,107 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at CALC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,227 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,939 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at CALC.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. CALC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for CALC appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 7.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 90 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,932 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,583 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
Worth Knowing
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.