by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Caribbean University-Ponce— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Caribbean University - Ponce, 22% of first-year students take on loan debt, at roughly $4,689 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $4,689, which is 85.3% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
For undergraduates overall at Caribbean University - Ponce, 36% rely on federal student loans toward their education, averaging $7,538 a year. This works out to 60.8% above the $4,689 freshmen take on.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $15,076 in two years and roughly $30,152 across a four-year program. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 36% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,538 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 149 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,123,116 |
The median student at Caribbean University - Ponce borrows $7,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $7,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $10,500 |
| 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Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 Caribbean University - Ponce.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,850 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $13,600 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $22,250 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Caribbean University - Ponce.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Caribbean University - Ponce.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 36 | $4,000 |
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Caribbean University - Ponce.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 23 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 13 | — |
The indicators below describe what the typical debt costs to pay back at Caribbean University - Ponce.
The default rate measures how many borrowers fall behind and ultimately fail to repay their federal loans. The federal two-year cohort default rate for Caribbean University - Ponce follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 21.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 862 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,063 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $8,217 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,650 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Caribbean University - Ponce.
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.
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.