by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at ABAC Tifton, 27% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, for an average of $5,401 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,884, equal to roughly 88.8% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Remember the all-undergraduate figures below leave out private loans, so they will look lower than this private-plus-federal freshman amount.
Counting every undergraduate at ABAC Tifton, 27% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $5,529 a year. That is 13.2% greater than the freshman federal average of $4,884.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $11,058 in two years and roughly $22,116 after four. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 27% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,529 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 884 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,887,560 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at ABAC Tifton carry a median federal debt of $8,750 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $16,750 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at ABAC Tifton.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,625 |
| 25th percentile | $3,996 |
| 75th percentile | $14,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $23,644 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at ABAC Tifton.
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 ABAC Tifton.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 254 | $8,630 |
| Completed (graduates) | 92 | $9,604 |
| Did not complete | 162 | $8,630 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $114.2/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at ABAC Tifton.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 214 | $8,498 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 40 | $10,206 |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at ABAC Tifton.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for ABAC Tifton appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.3% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 979 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $8,750 |
| Middle income | $8,250 |
| High income | $8,751 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $8,718 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $8,250 |
| Independent students | $11,835 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for ABAC Tifton.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Subsidized loans pause interest while you are in school; unsubsidized loans do not. That difference compounds over four years, so the type of loan you take matters as much as the amount.
Did You Know?
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.