by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Texas College— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
Among first-year students at TC, 52% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $6,592 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $6,558. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Across the full undergraduate body at TC (freshmen included), 64% borrow through federal student loan programs, borrowing on average $6,175 each per year. This is 5.8% below the first-year federal average of $6,558.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,350 in two years and roughly $24,700 over four years. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 64% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,175 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 434 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $2,679,785 |
The median student at TC borrows $19,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $19,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $31,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $14,250 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for TC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $26,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $38,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at TC.
The figures above count only the students own federal loans. Adding PLUS loans (borrowed by parents or graduate students) gives a fuller picture of total borrowing at TC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 102 | $12,112 |
| Completed (graduates) | 28 | $13,039 |
| Did not complete | 74 | $11,906 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $155.05/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. TC.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The federal two-year cohort default rate for TC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 22.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 378 |
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.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $20,375 |
| Middle income | $13,000 |
| High income | $19,875 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $23,000 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $16,000 |
| Independent students | $29,500 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at TC.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
Important to Remember
Declaring bankruptcy does not erase federal student loan debt. If you stop paying, the federal government can garnish a portion of your wages until the loans are repaid.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.