by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Atlanta Institute of Music and Media: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at AIMM, 78% of first-year students take on loan debt, with a typical loan of $5,790 per borrower, covering both private and federal loans.
The average federal loan is $5,334, or about 97.0% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
Among all degree-seeking undergrads at AIMM, 69% finance part of their studies with federal loans, averaging $7,777 annually. That is 45.8% more than the freshman federal average of $5,334.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $15,554 over two years and about $31,108 by the fourth year. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 69% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,777 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 228 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,773,253 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at AIMM carry a median federal debt of $9,500 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $15,411 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,334 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Looking only at the median is misleading — these four percentiles describe the full debt distribution for borrowers at AIMM.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,834 |
| 25th percentile | $3,566 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $12,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at AIMM.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for AIMM.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 48 | $28,243 |
| Completed (graduates) | 29 | $41,951 |
| Did not complete | 19 | $21,680 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $498.84/mo.
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at AIMM.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for AIMM is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 16.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 165 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,168 |
| Middle income | $9,500 |
| High income | $9,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,334 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,848 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,334 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at AIMM.
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.
Important to Remember
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.