by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend Coker University: median debt, the percentile spread, total borrowing including PLUS loans, and the cost to repay. All figures come from the U.S. Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Coker, 66% of incoming students take out a loan to help cover first-year costs, at roughly $8,273 each, across private and federal loan sources.
Federal loans alone average $5,824. This is at or above the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing cap that applies to the typical dependent freshman. Keep in mind the all-undergraduate averages further down count federal loans only, unlike this private-plus-federal freshman figure.
Looking at all undergraduates at Coker, freshmen included, 62% borrow through federal student loan programs, borrowing on average $7,273 annually. That amounts to 24.9% larger than the $5,824 freshmen take on.
Carrying that yearly figure forward comes to roughly $14,546 across two years and $29,092 by the fourth year. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 62% |
| Average federal loan per year | $7,273 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 500 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $3,636,259 |
The median student at Coker borrows $15,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $15,000 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $26,000 |
| Students who withdrew | $9,500 |
Withdrawn-student debt matters because those borrowers carry the loans without the degree that helps repay them.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for Coker.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $30,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $43,750 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Coker.
Median federal debt understates the full cost when PLUS loans are included. The totals below add PLUS borrowing for Coker.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 238 | $14,020 |
| Completed (graduates) | 97 | $17,500 |
| Did not complete | 141 | $11,561 |
On a standard 10-year plan, the median completing borrower would pay about $208.09/mo.
Stafford loans are the federal direct-loan program most undergraduates use. The breakdown below separates borrowers who used Stafford loans from those who did not at Coker.
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 212 | $13,309 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 26 | $15,557 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Coker.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Coker is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.0% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 399 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,505 |
| Middle income | $16,630 |
| High income | $13,750 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,492 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,342 |
| Independent students | $23,052 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Coker.
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
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.