by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Central Lakes College-Brainerd: 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 Central Lakes College, 35% of first-year students take on loan debt, for an average of $5,485 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The typical federal loan comes to $4,948, which is 90.0% of the $5,500 first-year borrowing cap for the typical first-year dependent student. Note that average undergraduate loan amounts shown later do not include private loans — so the full freshman figure above is not directly comparable.
Counting every undergraduate at Central Lakes College, 36% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, for a typical $5,915 per year. This is 19.5% higher than the first-year federal average of $4,948.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $11,830 by year two and around $23,660 after four. 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 | $5,915 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 542 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,205,844 |
The median student at Central Lakes College borrows $8,439 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $8,439 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $11,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $5,798 |
Debt carried by students who withdrew is a key risk signal — these borrowers owe money without having earned the credential.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Central Lakes College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,450 |
| 25th percentile | $4,750 |
| 75th percentile | $15,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $26,187 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Central Lakes College.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Central Lakes College.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 82 | $7,375 |
| Completed (graduates) | 30 | $7,580 |
| Did not complete | 52 | $7,375 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $90.13/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Central Lakes College.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 54 | $6,845 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 28 | $12,829 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. Central Lakes College.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Central Lakes College is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 12.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1182 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
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 | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $8,250 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,867 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,522 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $6,500 |
| Independent students | $10,500 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Central Lakes College.
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.