by our College Data Analytics TeamThis page focuses on the debt students take on to attend Clayton State University— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Among first-year students at Clayton State University, 46% of incoming undergraduates borrow in year one, with a typical loan of $6,308 apiece. This figure includes both private and federally funded student loans.
Federal loans alone average $6,052. This reaches or tops the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap for a typical dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
For undergraduates overall at Clayton State University, 46% take out federal student loans, with a mean of $6,915 a year. That amounts to 14.3% higher than the $6,052 borrowed by freshmen.
Repeating that yearly amount projects to about $13,830 in two years and roughly $27,660 by the fourth year. These projections assume the same federal borrowing each year and exclude private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 46% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,915 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 2,027 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $14,016,821 |
The median student at Clayton State University borrows $16,750 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $16,750 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $25,706 |
| Students who withdrew | $12,000 |
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 Clayton State University.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $7,712 |
| 75th percentile | $31,251 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $45,484 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at Clayton State University.
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 Clayton State University.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1085 | $12,000 |
| Completed (graduates) | 439 | $12,973 |
| Did not complete | 646 | $12,000 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $154.26/mo.
Federal data lets us separate Stafford borrowers from the rest at Clayton State University.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1065 | $12,000 |
| No Stafford loan | 20 | $12,567 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 952 | $12,000 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 133 | $14,465 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Clayton State University.
A loan default — failing to keep up with federal student-loan payments — is one of the worst financial outcomes a borrower can face. Two-year cohort default-rate data for Clayton State University is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.9% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 2171 |
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 | $17,519 |
| Middle income | $15,845 |
| High income | $15,750 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,021 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,750 |
Dependent vs Independent Borrowers
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $14,000 |
| Independent students | $20,900 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at Clayton State University.
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.
Worth Knowing
Unlike most other debt, federal student loans generally survive bankruptcy — and unpaid balances can lead to wage garnishment — so borrow only what you truly need.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.