by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Atlanta Metropolitan State 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 AMSC, 35% of first-year students take on loan debt, for an average of $5,950 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,950. This is at or above the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap that applies to the typical dependent freshman. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
For undergraduates overall at AMSC, 38% borrow through federal student loan programs, at an average of $7,110 annually. That amounts to 19.5% above the freshman federal average of $5,950.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $14,220 in two years and roughly $28,440 across a four-year program. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 38% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,110 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 514 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,654,382 |
The median student at AMSC borrows $6,606 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,606 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $14,123 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 AMSC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $2,250 |
| 75th percentile | $8,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $14,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at AMSC.
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 AMSC.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 322 | $15,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 33 | $12,800 |
| Did not complete | 289 | $15,790 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $152.21/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at AMSC.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 126 | $14,837 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 196 | $15,363 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. AMSC.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The federal two-year cohort default rate for AMSC follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 14.5% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 685 |
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.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,881 |
| Middle income | $6,775 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,647 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,000 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at AMSC.
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?
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.