by our College Data Analytics TeamHere you will find what students actually borrow to attend College of Charleston, including completion-adjusted borrowing and a standard repayment estimate. The data below is drawn directly from federal sources.
Looking at the entering class at C of C, 48% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, at roughly $11,021 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
The average federally funded loan is $5,263, or about 95.7% of the $5,500 first-year federal borrowing limit for a typical dependent freshman. 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 C of C, freshmen included, 39% take out federal student loans, at an average of $6,333 in federal loans per year. This works out to 20.3% more than the first-year federal average of $5,263.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $12,666 in two years and roughly $25,332 across a four-year program. These figures assume identical federal borrowing each year and omit private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 39% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,333 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 4,055 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $25,680,946 |
The median student at C of C borrows $17,500 of cumulative federal debt.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $17,500 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $23,250 |
| Students who withdrew | $8,750 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
The median hides the spread, so the percentiles below show cumulative federal debt at four points in the distribution for C of C.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $26,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
How wide this percentile range is tells you how much borrowing varies across students at C of C.
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 C of C.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 1798 | $25,866 |
| Completed (graduates) | 998 | $35,971 |
| Did not complete | 800 | $18,218 |
For students who completed, the median total debt including PLUS loans works out to a standard 10-year payment of about $427.73/mo.
The split below distinguishes Stafford borrowers from non-Stafford borrowers at C of C.
Borrowers With Any Stafford Loan
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Used a Stafford loan | 1738 | $25,827 |
| No Stafford loan | 60 | $28,906 |
Current-Year Stafford Borrowers
| Cohort | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Stafford loan this year | 1432 | $31,904 |
| No Stafford loan this year | 366 | $14,137 |
Repayment burden translates the debt figures into what a borrower actually pays each month. C of C.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for C of C appears below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 6.2% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 1789 |
A lower default rate generally signals that graduates earn enough to manage their loan payments.
Median debt differs by income tier, first-generation status, and whether the student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,500 |
| Middle income | $17,132 |
| High income | $15,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Borrowing
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $18,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $16,750 |
| Independent students | $21,721 |
These pre-calculated indicators summarize the borrowing gaps between cohorts at C of C.
Subsidized vs. 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.