by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Black River Technical College: 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 Black River Technical College, 9% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, averaging $4,871 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $4,871, representing 88.6% of the $5,500 federal limit that applies to a typical first-year dependent borrower. 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 Black River Technical College, 18% borrow through federal student loan programs, at an average of $5,562 a year. This works out to 14.2% greater than the $4,871 freshmen take on.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $11,124 across two years and $22,248 after four. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 18% |
| Average federal loan per year | $5,562 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 167 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $928,863 |
The middle borrower at Black River Technical College owes $6,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Black River Technical College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,700 |
| 25th percentile | $3,000 |
| 75th percentile | $14,149 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $22,406 |
The spread between the lowest- and highest-debt deciles summarizes how variable outcomes are at Black River Technical College.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Black River Technical College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 67 | $8,500 |
| Completed (graduates) | 30 | $9,439 |
| Did not complete | 37 | $6,924 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $112.24/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 Black River Technical College.
Borrowers With a Stafford Loan This Year
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 19 | $7,221 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 48 | $10,348 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Black River Technical College.
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 Black River Technical College appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 23.1% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 569 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
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 | $6,937 |
| Middle income | $6,000 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,000 |
| Independent students | $9,000 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Black River Technical College.
Subsidized vs. 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?
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.