by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Maine College of Health Professions: 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.
At MCHP specifically, 100% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, averaging $8,485 per student, private and federal loans combined.
On the federal side, the average loan is $5,442, representing 98.9% of the $5,500 cap on first-year federal borrowing for the typical dependent student. Be aware: the undergraduate-wide averages below exclude private loans, while this freshman number includes them.
Counting every undergraduate at MCHP, 90% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, with a mean of $7,100 annually. This works out to 30.5% more than the $5,442 freshmen take on.
At a steady annual pace, that totals around $14,200 by year two and around $28,400 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 | 90% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,100 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 205 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,455,581 |
The median student at MCHP borrows $12,000 in federal student loans.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $12,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $15,250 |
| 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Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.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 MCHP.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $8,000 |
| 75th percentile | $20,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $23,500 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at MCHP.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for MCHP.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 33 | $11,860 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for MCHP.
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 MCHP is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 3.7% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 81 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Borrowing varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Borrowing by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,125 |
| Middle income | $12,418 |
| High income | $11,200 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $11,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $11,252 |
| Independent students | $14,250 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at MCHP.
The Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
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.