by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend CET, El Centro, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
At CET, El Centro, 5% of freshmen borrow to help pay for their first year, averaging $7,438 per student, private and federal loans combined.
Federal loans alone average $7,438. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical 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.
Looking at all undergraduates at CET, El Centro, freshmen included, 7% use federal student loans to help pay for their education, at an average of $7,413 a year. This is 0.3% smaller than the freshman federal average of $7,438.
Borrowing at that rate every year works out to about $14,826 across two years and $29,652 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 | 7% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,413 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 17 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $126,015 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at CET, El Centro carry a median federal debt of $6,729 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $6,729 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $7,041 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,750 |
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 CET, El Centro.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,140 |
| 25th percentile | $4,767 |
| 75th percentile | $8,042 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $9,500 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at CET, El Centro.
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 CET, El Centro.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 215 | $5,192 |
| Completed (graduates) | 177 | $5,308 |
| Did not complete | 38 | $3,677 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $63.12/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at CET, El Centro.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 200 | — |
| No Stafford loan this year | 15 | — |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for CET, El Centro.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for CET, El Centro follows.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 13.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1992 |
The cohort default rate tracks borrowers who entered repayment in a given year and defaulted within the two-year measurement window.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,777 |
| Middle income | $6,650 |
| High income | $5,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,729 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,246 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $7,582 |
The Department of Education computes gap indicators that show how borrowing differs between student groups at CET, El Centro.
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.
Did You Know?
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.