by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Central 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.
At Central specifically, 71% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $8,796 each, across private and federal loan sources.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,573. This is at or above the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap that applies to the typical dependent freshman. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Across the full undergraduate body at Central (freshmen included), 72% take out federal student loans, averaging $6,484 each per year. This is 16.3% greater than the first-year federal average of $5,573.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $12,968 across two years and $25,936 over four years. This projection keeps yearly federal borrowing flat and excludes private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 72% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,484 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 769 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $4,986,281 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Central carry a median federal debt of $20,815 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $20,815 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,984 |
| Students who withdrew | $6,500 |
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 Central.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $9,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $38,194 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Central.
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 Central.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 195 | $23,800 |
| Completed (graduates) | 121 | $39,100 |
| Did not complete | 74 | $15,127 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $464.94/mo.
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Central.
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 Central appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.6% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 436 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $17,500 |
| Middle income | $23,250 |
| High income | $21,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,829 |
| Continuing-generation students | $22,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Central.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
With an unsubsidized loan, interest starts adding up the day the loan is disbursed, including during school. Subsidized loans, by contrast, do not accrue interest while you are enrolled at least half-time, which makes them the less expensive option when you qualify.
Worth Knowing
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.